Serpent's Hunger
by hit-or-miss-alyssa
Summary: How is Cecily going to explain to her twin brother, Draco, that she's been going behind his back to consort with his nemesis? Sure, she was only trying to help them survive the oncoming war but her brother would never understand why she let Potter, of all people, teach her in some secret group that he'd made. Draco would surely never forgive her for this. (Harry/OC)
1. Prologue

**PROLOGUE:**

"You do know that father is lying, don't you?"

I heard my dear brother's irritable intake of breath and could almost hear the mental " _here we go again_ " run through his head.

"You don't know that. Father has no reason to lie," He muttered, not bothering to look at me but rather continue writing a letter that he'd been stuck on for three days now.

I'd noticed he hadn't been able to get past the first sentence. It made me wonder to whom my brother was writing and why it was taking him so damn long to figure out what he was going to say. Maybe it was important. Or maybe he was just indecisive. Probably both. I rolled my eyes at his words.

"Father has _every_ reason to lie you dimwit!" I exclaimed.

At this he lifted his head angrily at me and narrowed his perfectly murderous grey eyes, identical to mine, to my face.

"Be careful what you say, Cessy. You don't know who could be lurking in our home nowadays." He threw his words like venom at me and I felt my lips curl up into a smile.

"So I'm right. You think he's lying too." I crossed my arms over my chest defiantly and smiled even wider when he didn't answer me.

I continued to smile to myself as I pet Heracles' soft feathers. The proud owl was perched in front of me and cooing slightly at my touch. He seemed to be enjoying his time; especially since Jojo wasn't here. They absolutely hated one another.

I looked at the window and frowned at the dark clouds circling my home. The clouds had been so dark lately that I had to wonder if they were natural or not. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the work of the Dark Lord. After what happened not six weeks ago in June there was no doubt in my mind that he had returned, even if it _was_ Potty Golden Boy that had said so.

Something in the wizarding world felt different; there was no denying it. Draco could tell me that father wasn't hiding something and that everything was fine all he wanted but I wasn't a fool. Nor was I as naive as they all thought me to be. I knew what was happening. And deep down, not that I would admit it, but deep down I feared what this would do to my family.

My proud father, even as dickish as he could be, was still my father and my sweet mother whom wanted nothing more than a perfect world for her children. And my brother. I feared especially for my brother in this role. He looked up to father so much and I knew he'd undoubtedly want to follow in his footsteps. The words " _Death Eater_ " flashed in my mind and I felt a lump grow in my throat as I imagined it. My brother, with that _stupid_ thing on his arm and a growing darkness in his heart as he took the lives of people that he didn't even know.

 _But no-_

I shook it from my head.

 _My brother is nasty at times, but not a bloody murderer!_

I took a deep breath and ignored the shaking in my chest. It wasn't possible. Draco wouldn't leave me like that. He wouldn't do that.

"Cessy? You alright?" His smooth voice broke my thoughts.

I looked over at him and saw that I had taken to clenching my fists so hard that my nails bit into the skin; small traces of crescent moon nails lined my palms.

"Merlin's beard, Cessy, what's gotten into you?" Draco was fully concerned now and got up from his desk to rush over to me. He frowned at me and I saw something like frustration pass over his face. I rolled my eyes. This was the annoyingly protective brother trait that I loathed so much. I snatched my hand away from him before he could try and do something silly.

"I'm fine, big brother, just a few cuts," I said, rolling my eyes as he tried to grab my hand again.

He wrestled me a bit telling me in the process how he just wanted to help and I continued to dodge him, keeping my hand far away from him. Finally, he groaned and threw his hands in the air.

"You're a nutter, I hope you know that," He said, giving up and finally sitting back at his desk. I smiled triumphantly.

"'Course I do. I embrace it." I grinned at him and he rolled his eyes, muttering something about " _how on earth could we be related?_ "

* * *

"What on earth are they talking about?! How could they say that he's lying? I hate the bloody git more than anyone in that school and even I know he's telling the truth!" I exclaimed, outraged.

My mother looked concernedly at me and looked to berate me for my inappropriate behavior, especially at the breakfast table, but father beat her to it.

"Enough!" He shouted, his cool hard voice shaking the chandelier above us. I felt my cheeks redden at being yelled at but me being me, I just couldn't hold my tongue.

"But father-everything has changed! Can't you feel it? I mean you'll be able to feel it more than any of us right? Because of that thing-?"

"Cecily Rose Malfoy! Do not talk to your father that way!" Mother's venomous hiss rang over to me and I honestly didn't enjoy being targeted by my parents but this was too much to not talk about.

How could they be so naive? Would they really turn a blind eye? Or were they really that stupid to think that the Dark Lord had not returned? No, father must know the truth. He was a follower. He _is_ a follower.

A Death Eater.

 ** _HARRY POTTER THE BOY WHO LIES?_**

The Ministry was trying to cover up that fact that the Dark Lord has returned by making Harry Golden Potter seem like a liar and a villain? Normally I would've rejoiced that the world as finally seeing that scum for what he was but this was bigger than that! The Dark Lord has returned and will most likely kill anything he sees that's in his path! That could include my parents! Whatever they had done to me in the past was nothing; what mattered to me was keeping them safe.

"But I'm just worried that-!"

"I said _enough_ Cecily!" My father bellowed and before I could get another word out I felt a silencing charm make its way to my throat.

My hands flew to my neck before I could stop myself and I mentally berated myself. This was just showing father my weak side. I carefully took my hands away and glared at him instead.

I felt Draco stiffen beside me, hating when father did this to me. How many times had he told me to keep my mouth shut? Enough that I should've seen this coming. This was not the first time father had put a silencing charm on me. It was not the first time I'd felt the keen sting every time my vocal chords tried to talk back.

My mother pinched her lips together; also not enjoying when the noble Lucius Malfoy treated his children this way. Especially her little girl. But I couldn't be too upset with him; this was very minor to the things he would sometimes do in his anger. Things I didn't want to think about.

"You will not utter another _word_ of this in this home, nor anywhere else, _understood_?" His voice was low and frightening to say the least.

It sounded like he was trying his hardest not to scream at me. Something I probably should've been more fearful of considering what that entailed in the past.

My throat burned with the charm still on it and every time I tried to sallow it felt like fire making its way down to my stomach. I clenched my jaw and bitterly nodded my head throwing the meanest look I could at my father. He was untouched by it. I could almost begin to understand where my nonchalant " _devil may care_ " attitude came from. But then again Lucius and I were much too different. At least we both thought so.

Draco was looking disappointedly at me and my father released my throat from the wretched charm. I took a deep breath, chugged the rest of my orange juice, feeling relief in the cool liquid soothing the aching in my esophagus. I glared at my father some more throughout breakfast.

No one spoke again for the rest of the meal.

* * *

"You're gonna have to be faster than that Cessy!"

I laughed as Draco zoomed past me once again and I tried my best to catch up to him. It was still hard to balance at times on my broom but I'd gotten much better over the last few weeks thanks to my brother. Slytherin might find themselves a new player this year. It would finally give me an excuse to knock Potter off his broom! It brought a strange sense of delight every time a bludger or beater came close to the Golden Boy so I found myself attending school games often. Father would take Draco and I to professional matches as well and I loved those even more; particularly ones with violent endings.

Something about a sport that condoned beating one another appealed to me sometimes.

I loved watching the game, and apparently according to my brother, I wasn't bad at playing it either. Maybe Slytherin would finally beat Gryffindor this year if I continued working hard to make the team this year.

I was on Draco's tail now my fingers almost able to reach the bristles on his Nimbus 2001 and he laughed when he looked back at me.

"Try and get in front of me!" He encouraged and gave me a challenging look. I furrowed my brow and locked my eyes on the metaphorical snitch in front of us, willing my broom to push itself just that few inches further.

"Don't you dare _let_ me pass you!" I exclaimed and he laughed again.

"It's not in my nature!" He said and finally we were neck and neck.

I looked to the side and saw him grinning proudly at me and I gave him a smile back. I saw that just slightly; my broom as ahead of his by a pinch. I cheered aloud and he continued to smile. I should have been paying attention, however.

Seeing as I was not as skilled as my brother was on a broom he easily dodged the black crow that flew in front of us and continued flying gracefully.

I, however, flew right into the poor creature and wrestled with it a bit before falling off of my broom completely while it flew in the other direction; perplexed and dazed. I was acutely aware that I was falling very fast and I screamed only momentarily, feeling the air around me drag me down towards the small field behind our house, before the back of my flying robes were caught in the air. I gave a loud "oof!" when I was caught and dangled above the ground only a few feet. I looked up and saw my brother chuckling and shaking his head.

I rolled my eyes; my brother ever my savior.

"You need to pay more attention when you're in the air, little sister," Draco said and set me down on the ground. I landed neatly and without harm.

"Well if that bloody crow hadn't gotten in direct flight of ours I would have been just fine," I said haughtily.

Draco had apparently had time to catch my broom after I fell because he handed it over to me with a small smirk; one that told me he could see right through my bullshit. I ignored it. He felt the need to berate me a little though. Everyone in the family did.

"I'm serious; the bludgers on the field are exactly like that crow. They're not going to wait for you to pass them they're going to try and knock you off your broom. And by what I saw just now I think you'd fall every time."

"Well that's why I have such an excellent teacher, isn't it? So he can show me how not to fall," I grinned at him and laughed when he nodded.

"Maybe we can finally beat Potty this year, huh? Foul git," Draco sneered and I laughed, nodding my head.

"Only if I make the team," I flicked my thick hair over my shoulder and accepted the water bottle he offered me.

The hot summer air was sticky with humidity and the sun was bright in the sky. It was a nice change from all the dark clouds that had been surrounding the house for most of the summer. I had an inkling this had to do with father and mother having gone on their small honeymoon before Draco and I had to start school shopping in a couple of weeks. Which meant that the Dark Lord was leaving our home alone for the time being.

 _Thank_ _Salazar_

"Cessy-," Draco started. "-do you think anything is going to be normal for us this year?"

"Most likely not. When are things ever normal for us?"

I watched as he narrowed his eyes and looked at the ground; his mind running through thoughts I couldn't decipher. Apparently he had been hoping for a different answer from me. My heart grew worried for him as I could only think about what had caused him to ask me that. Was he thinking about the Death Eaters? Was he thinking about father's expectations of him? Of us? Was he considering…?

 _No he can't._

I looked away from him, not wanting to get the image of him in those black robes with a mask over his pretty face. I looked down instead at my wrist to distract myself.

Was he wondering why all of a sudden our identical birth marks on our wrists had started to sting every time we practice dueled?

I traced the mark with my index finger and huffed a sigh. The light pink crescent moon was small and unnoticeable if you weren't up close to us. But we both had it; and just recently it had started to burn or sting every time we would practice defensive spells on one another. Not just to one of us but both.

It made me curious so behind his back I had done some research. I hadn't come up with much but there was enough for me to put _something_ together. I wasn't going to tell him my theory quite yet though. Besides; it was only a theory. I saw him reach to slick back his hair and saw that his eyes, matching mine, held a heaviness that wasn't quite there before the end of last school year.

I understood where he was coming from.

"Maybe I'll get a boyfriend this year," I said, changing the subject and trying to lighten his dark mood.

Protective brother mode would help him out of his reverie for this I knew to be a fact.

"The _bloody hell_ you are!" He sneered.

I couldn't help the tiny smile that spread across my face at how predictable he was.

"Why do you want a boyfriend, Cessy, they're all nutters anyway! No one there is good enough for you, _especially_ anyone in the other houses! _Salazar's spit_ , you're not thinking of dating anyone _outside_ of Slytherin are you?! I'll kill him! I'll kill them all Cecily, I swear on-,"

"Draco!" I cut him off before his already reddened face started turning purple. "-Relax! I was only joking with you." I laughed at his disheveled look and clutched my stomach, trying to control the loud cackles coming out of my mouth.

He did _not_ look amused which only made me laugh more. My poor big brother. How he ended up with a twin as cruel as me I had no idea.

"Are you done?" He asked, venom in his voice.

"I'm not sure-," I laughed, wiping metaphorical tears from my eyes. "-are you still going to kill all of the male population in Hogwarts?"

"If it means you won't be able to date any then yes." He growled and together we started headed back towards the house.

"No one at that blasted school appeals to me anyway, dear brother, don't you worry your pretty head over it!" I smiled and leaned to kiss his cheek as I ran ahead of him towards the large and empty Manor.

"They better not," He mumbled as he followed me. I shook my head and laughed.

* * *

"Do take care of yourselves this year, darlings, please? For me?" Mother sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

As I turned around to look at her I saw that she actually was tearing up a bit. My throat closed at the sight and I embraced her firmly, not wanting her to cry. Jojo, who was in my arms, was squished between the two of us and hissed at her discomfort. I ignored her and instead I felt my mother pet my head, smoothing out my long hair along my back. She whispered to me.

"Please look after your brother. He needs you."

I paused only slightly before nodding and kissing her cheek, bidding her goodbye. As she hugged my brother I mouthed to her.

 _I promise._

She smiled at me and gave Draco the same lip gloss covered kiss on the cheek that she had given me. We both said our last goodbye's until the Holiday and then turned away from her.

I was afraid to see the tears on her porcelain face if I looked back so I kept my head straight. He took my trunk for me as we headed between platform 9 and 10 to head onto the Hogwarts Express. The hustle and bustle of the muggles was distracting me from my own mind; not letting me think about what my mother's double meaning behind her words meant. I was almost thankful for the noise.

That and the soft purring coming from Jojo comforted me.

"C'mon Cessy. Don't get distracted."

Draco's voice snapped me out of whatever trance I was in and he led me towards the train after giving our trunks to the storage compartment. Jojo hated being in her carry-on so I held her tightly in my arms. Once we were on the train she'd be able to roam if she wanted.

"Ready for another year of torture?" I asked as I led the way towards where most of our fellow Slytherin's sat and plotted against the Gryffindor's.

"As ready as I'll ever be," He muttered and I felt a frown work its way to my face at his words.

For some reason the gut feeling I had told me he wasn't just talking about the school year.


	2. Chapter 1: I Found A Potty on the Train

**CHAPTER 1: I FOUND A POTTY ON THE TRAIN**

* * *

"What do you mean you can't sit with me?!"

I heard the snickers from my fellow Slytherin's and a hiss from Jojo at my outburst. I glared at them before looking back at my brother who was proudly putting his Fifth Year Prefects pin on his robes. Theodore Nott, the only person in all of Slytherin besides my brother that I could tolerate, put his hand on my shoulder and I looked at him.

"He's a Prefect he has to meet with the other Prefects and set up patrol schedules," He said looking a little sympathetically at me.

Everyone knew that Draco and I had always ridden the train together since first year; this would be the first time ever that we'd be separated on our way back to Hogwarts.

"I get to come back, little sister, don't get your wand in a knot," Draco said and pet my head, rolling his eyes in the seemed almost _delightedly_ annoyed that I didn't want him to leave. "It's only for an hour or so."

At this I nearly latched myself to his arm and followed him out of the compartment. I watched as his blonde head went towards the front of the train with Tracey Davis, the girl Prefect of our house, following after him and I growled. I could feel my face getting red with annoyance and I looked at the others that occupied our seat unhappily. Jojo, being part kneazle and super protective and attuned to my emotions, was uneasy with how upset I was. She jumped in my lap and mewed slightly at me, looking at me with her big green eyes.

"I know, pretty girl, I know," I muttered darkly and looked around.

Blaise Zabini with his dark features and sickening smile and cunning remarks sat across from me and was laughing while I pouted. I sneered at him. Crabbe and Goyle, whom I'm surprised could both fit into one compartment, sat next to him. Daphne Greengrass with her wheat colored hair and eyes so brown they looked black, and who had tried her hardest to befriend me since First Year, was looking sympathetically at me. And of course, we couldn't be in a compartment without Pugface Parkinson trailing after my brother.

I snarled at her and she had the decency to look a little frightened; maybe it was because my snarl was actually as terrifying as I thought it was; or maybe it was because Jojo was glaring at her too.

I would never know

And then of course, we had Theodore; my saving grace in all of these people.

Theodore had been my first friend in Slytherin. We'd met in First Year in Potions when Professor Snape had had us partner up. I distinctly remember Theodore asking me why my cat was so on edge all the time and I remember telling him it was because _I_ was so on edge all the time. He had laughed and introduced himself and thus here we were. We'd been very close throughout friendship and I couldn't have asked for a better person to best Slytherin house with.

However, I couldn't allow myself to be as flirty and friendly with him this year as all the other years though because he may have let slip that he fancied me last year when we went to the Yule Ball together. I had thought we'd gone as friends; he had thought otherwise. According to him nothing had changed between us and that he would be over his crush soon; but I had caught the extremely happy look on his face when I had strolled into the compartment and I couldn't help but notice that he was being a little too comforting with me when he took my hand in his. He had even pet Jojo; but since he fed her all the time there was no surprise as to why she let him.

However, I didn't think his crush was gone at all; in fact, I think it had grown. But he was all I had in all of Slytherin house, besides my brother but my twin was always flanked by these dimwits and there was only so much I could take of them. I couldn't afford to lose Theordore Nott; that was for sure.

"So have any of you been reading the _Daily Prophet_?" Parkinson spoke up, completely ignoring that fact that I was still pissed off that my brother wasn't present.

I took note that her voice was seemingly more nasally than usual and scrunched up my face; I wondered if maybe she really _was_ turning into a pug and her transformation had just begun. I found strange delight in the notion. Maybe Jojo would have the pleasure of eating her alive if she became a full pug. I had no doubts that she could; my cat was the size of a small corgi.

"'Course we have. Potty Boy is just trying to keep himself in the spotlight, as usual," Blaise spoke, his voice deep.

"You don't think You-Know-Who could actually come back do you?" Daphne seemed a little skeptical and perhaps even frightened of the idea. Good, maybe she wasn't so dimwitted. "I mean the Ministry would tell us, wouldn't it?" Then again maybe I was wrong.

"Of course they wouldn't tell us, you bint, they're covering it up as we speak!" I said, not being able to control my anger rising at these insufferable people.

Daphne looked embarrassed that she was so easily belittled by me. Blaise looked intrigued at my intense outburst. Theodore was quietly trying to get me to calm down. Jojo was tense on my lap. I glared, took my hand from him and began explaining quite angrily how the Dark Lord returning is exactly the type of thing the Ministry of Magic would be _sure_ to cover up.

Mentally I knew that if Draco had ever caught me saying any of this to our so called "friends" that he would have my tongue magically altered so that I was a mute. In other words; I shouldn't have been saying anything about it at all especially after father's warning. But I couldn't help myself. I was too passionate about the safety of my people and family to care about anyone's opinion.

"Do you honestly think the Ministry is going to just _announce_ that he's back? They're taking this opportunity to run Potter's name through the dirt, which is fantastic yes, but they're also doing it at the expense of the safety of the whole of the wizarding world!"

"But don't you know what this means? We'll be back on top…the Dark Lord favors Slytherin's above anyone," Puginson tried to cut me off and I scoffed.

"If you think he favors anything above _himself_ then you're sorely mistaken, Pug. He's going to kill anyone that gets in the way of what he wants," I said and stood up angrily. My whole body was tense. "If you lot want to continue and pretend like that Ministry isn't full of lying, manipulative cheats, then be my guest. I won't be attending your funeral."

"Wait, Cecily, where are you-," Nott called after me but I wasn't having it.

"For a walk!" I nearly screeched, my anger getting the best of me.

I shot out of my seat, receiving an angry hiss from my beloved cat that I ignored. She followed me despite my ignoring her angry meows the whole time.

It was just like the conversation at breakfast with my father all over again. None of them understood the seriousness of this. They could be killed so easily and none of them had a care in the world. Vaguely as I walked away I could hear their chatter at my exclamation. Puginson's voice was most annoying above the rest.

 _Fools, idiots! What are they thinking that they can just automatically side with the Dark Lord and then they'll be safe?_

I marched along the train not bothering to try and even my temper. I was too angry. Sure, Potty was scum and he favored the spotlight and had things handed to him for no reason but I couldn't believe that everyone in this stupid wizarding world would think he would _lie_ about his enemy coming back to life. Why would he want that in the first place? It just meant he was closer to his death. Not that I would mind that; it was just the aftermath of the Dark Lord's reign that I feared.

I didn't want things to fall apart. And if the Dark Lord won the impending war that was sure to come then things would _most_ _definitely_ fall apart.

I paused briefly on my walk, giving my labored breathing a chance to calm down. My anger was almost dwindling; I could feel the tightness in my chest loosening a bit. Jojo had stopped meowing at me and was now happily trotting beside me; she too could feel the change in my emotions. My walk hadn't been particularly long but it had cleared my mind a tiny bit. My opinion on You-Know-Who's return hadn't changed, but at least I hadn't had to look at my insufferable house mates.

I was almost at the point where I could call myself " _relaxed_ " when I heard _the_ _voice_. I felt my jaw clench immediately and knew there was no chance I would calm down now.

"What, you don't have any other part of the train you can infect, _Malfoy_?"

My name was spit at me like poison and were I not in such a bad mood I might've laughed at how pathetic he sounded saying it. I turned toward my left and saw the Golden Boy Potty sitting, surprisingly, by himself in a compartment with the sliding door wide open.

I took this as a blessing. He didn't have his Mudblood and Blood-Traitor friends with him and maybe, just maybe, I could get away with hexing him into oblivion.

"Aw look at wittle Potty, does he not have his wittle fwiends with him today?" I said in the most obnoxious voice I could muster.

It was a rare occasion when the Boy Wonder didn't have his posse with him. I wondered what could possibly have made them leave him so vulnerable to people.

People like me; who could easily jinx the poor sod or have their cat maim him to unrecognizability. I glanced down at Jojo and with furrowed brows saw that she was contently sitting right outside of his compartment. She didn't tense or hiss the way she did when she saw Parkinson and at this I was confused.

And a bit upset; was she broken? Kneazles were keen to enemies of their owners and with my cat being part kneazle it seemed obvious that she would attack Potter on the spot. Potter was nothing if not an enemy and Jojo was just standing there looking at him. Not even tense! Was she sick?

 _I'll have to take you to a healer!_

I looked back at Potter and saw that his sour expression made me forget about Jojo being broken for the time being and think that maybe his friends hadn't been _made_ to leave him, but perhaps left him _willingly_. I couldn't blame them. He was insufferable.

My comment seemed to have pinched a nerve with him though because suddenly he looked murderous. Good. I could use a fight. I reached for my wand and he immediately pointed his at my face. Jojo hissed then; clearly not liking having someone point a wand at my face.

 _Great,_ now, _you hiss!_

"Piss off Malfoy." He bit, his green eyes blazing. They looked acidic.

I admit I should've been more frightened with Harry Potter's wand pointing at my face considering he was one of the best in our year with wand work, aside from _me_ of course, but I really couldn't seem to get past the itch I had to fight someone.

I managed a smirk and I stepped into his compartment slightly taking notice of the latest print of the _Daily Prophet_ angrily crinkled on the seat opposite of him. I also noted the tired purple circles under his eyes and the sunken look behind them. The summer had really done a number on our dear Potty the Savior. He looked even thinner than he had when I'd first had the displeasure of meeting him in First Year. The sight made me stifle the jinx that was about to come out of my mouth.

 _Ugh. Right._ Everyone _hates him now, not just me._

It almost made me feel bad seeing how miserable he looked but at the same time he'd put me and my brother through so much hell that I didn't feel bad at all. I did lower my wand though. He took notice and did the same with a look of utter surprise on his face.

"How's life on the other side of fame, Potty?" I sneered. He snarled right back.

"Awful, but you would know all about that wouldn't you, Malfoy? You know, the general public's dislike of you and all that," He said, trying to act nonchalant.

I snorted.

"I would say nice try Potter, but I can't help but notice that lack of finesse behind the insult. Clearly something else is on your mind; I'm surprised. I didn't know your small brain _could_ think of anything else besides yourself?" I said.

"Go away, Malfoy."

I narrowed my eyes at him. He definitely wasn't himself. Usually there were more biting comments back and forth before we parted ways. He seemed almost defeated. He was definitely more agitated than normal but I tended to manage to do that with people. Maybe Potty was really taking the Dark Lord's return to heart? But then again, why wouldn't he? It made me think about the terrible future if Potter didn't survive and then what would happen?

The Dark Lord would destroy our world and make a new darker one with more death, more curses, more of everything I didn't want for me and my family.

So maybe, just maybe, I would give Potter a break for a bit. Only for a bit though; I did have an image to maintain after all.

"Fine," I said, with much less malice but just as much, if not more, haughtiness. Like he wasn't worth my time in the first place. Which he wasn't.

He looked at me through his glasses, his green eyes blazing with curiosity but also, dare I say it, relief? He looked relieved that I was just going to leave him alone. It almost made me want to stay and make him mad again.

I had better leave before I changed my mind about giving him a break because that would just ensure a fight and honestly I was beginning to get a little hungry and not in the mood for a fight anymore. Poor timing.

"See you at the feast, Potty." I giggled at his agitated look at my nickname I'd come up for him in First Year but he didn't seem as upset as he could've been.

"See you," He said and I narrowed my eyes at him.

That was not normal. For him to sound almost…nice. For him to respond like that at all was different, it made me a little angry. Was he going to be like this all year? That wouldn't be very fun. I made sure to sneer at him before I left but I didn't bother looking back at him; Jojo took her sweet time looking at him and then following me daintily. _Damn cat, what am I going to do with you?_

She meowed loudly again and I looked frustrated at her. If she wasn't hissing at Harry freaking Potter then surely she was broken. I'd have to get her checked out. But I couldn't think about that now. Instead my mind was focused on the Pumpkin Pasties that I was dying to have. Hopefully Nott had maybe already gotten me some. Hopefully Draco was back! I mentally cheered at the thought.

* * *

Parkinson was two seconds away from receiving the jelly legs jinx from me if she didn't stop ogling my brother like she was. Honestly it was making me sick to my stomach just looking at how she fawned over him. I could practically see her drooling.

Draco, whom was oblivious to the sickening fangirl he had practically sitting on his lap, had returned shortly after I had from my walk and discussed his Prefect duties boastfully with us. I had rolled my eyes at his pompous tone but he ignored it, continuing in telling us how much of an honor it was that he was selected that he fully intended on abusing the right to giving detentions to any Gryffindor he saw fit.

This, at least, I could appreciate, for I would've done that same thing.

Tracey Davis, a fellow Slytherin and well known half-blood in the house seemed a bit more reserved about giving out detentions so freely but she still had a wicked smirk on her face at the mention of her being able to give detention to the two Weasel twins that she loathed so much. Apparently they had pranked her one too many times. I didn't mind them that much; were it not for the fact that they were blood traitors I would find them hilarious. Sometimes I even laughed at their darker schemes of mischief in the castle.

No other talk of "Potty the Liar" or anything like the Dark Lord returning was brought up in conversation this time.

 _Thank Salazar._

Theodore, bless his heart, had in fact gotten me pumpkin pasties and we shared some of the other sweets he had bought from the trolley lady. He seemed ecstatic that I was being so enthusiastically warm towards him. I couldn't help it; I enjoyed his company and quite frankly I kind of enjoyed that fact that he fancied me. I appreciated being appreciated, in other words. If Draco caught wind of it even in the slightest he'd have poor Nott's head on a platter. But still; it was nice.

"So Cecily, are you excited to try out for the quidditch team this year?" Blaise spoke to me as I finished off my liquorish wand that Theodore had split with me.

I narrowed my eyes at my brother and he smirked at me knowing this was exactly what I didn't want people knowing quite yet.

"I see secrecy is sacred nowadays between siblings," I muttered to my smirking twin and he shook his head and laughed at me.

"Oh please, they would've found out anyway. Besides there's a good chance you'll make the team. If anything Montague will put you on just for your looks alone," He said, bitterly at the end. I rolled my eyes.

Graham Montague, the captain of the quidditch team, more than once has said more than inappropriate things to me over the years and Draco hated him with all of his being. If he wasn't at risk of being thrown off of the team just in spite due to Montague's arrogance I'm sure my brother would've beaten the living pulp out of the captain by now.

"Montague's a slimy git anyway, I'm sure you'd make the team just on your talent. Draco here says you did extremely well this summer practicing with him." Theodore sounded just as miffed about the Montague comment as Draco was but he did seem genuinely happy for me that I had gotten good reviews from Slytherin's seeker.

"Thank you Theodore, I appreciate that but I wasn't that good," I said honestly. I'll admit I wasn't terrible but I wasn't as good as my brother.

"We'll have to see at tryouts, won't we?" Blaise smirked at me and I rolled my eyes at him.

There was idle chatter for the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts and I patiently waited for the moment were I could slip into my dormitory and get some sleep.

* * *

I hadn't even noticed who my brother was headed for before he started mocking the black haired boy we both loathed.

"Oh there he is, Golden Potty and his band of merry men," My brother's voice sounded cheerful at the idea of tormenting our nemesis before the feast even started and I was more than happy to join in.

However, I had told myself I would give Potter a slight break; did that mean I had to start before we even got welcomed back to school? On the train I had been more than willing to fight him but now that I was being so generous I wasn't sure of the rules. Ugh, I _hated_ being a good Samaritan.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Potter snarled; just like before on the train I could tell there wasn't much passion behind his voice.

It almost made it not as fun if he wasn't going to get as mad as he usually did.

This time he had Mudblood Granger and the Weasel with him. Granger's fierce glare was slicing into my brother and Weasley simply snarled but they both let Potter do the talking. I glared at them both before reaching for Draco with my free hand; the other carrying and irritated Jojo.

"Aw look at this little Potty's mad. Have you enjoyed the things they're saying about you in the _Daily Prophet_? I know I have." Draco's voice was obnoxiously proud and I nearly laughed at him. Sometimes he was more like our father than he could see.

I gripped his arm tighter and gave him a hard stare.

"They're not worth it big brother," I muttered to him, shifting my cats weight in my arms.

He looked vaguely annoyed with me and looked as though he was going to say something else but then he nodded, straightening out his collar on his robes. We walked proudly ahead of them before anyone else could get another word in. Potter gave me a strange look; he had clearly been expecting more out of the infamous Malfoy twins.

Well he was mistaken because one of the two twins was starving again and she wanted nothing more than to eat and head to bed; Potter should've been thanking me.

"The hell was that about?" Draco snapped at me as we hopped onto one of the carriages.

"What are you talking about?" I furrowed my brows and scooched over so that Theodore could sit next to me. He hadn't been far behind with that whole debacle.

The rest of Draco's little fan club strolled in after him.

"Why didn't you let me rip Potter apart?" He asked, curiosity and anger in his tone.

"Are you honestly taking that as me _keeping_ you from Potter?" I laughed bitterly. "I'm tired and hungry and I want to get to the Great Hall without any fuss big brother, Salazar's spit, it's like a girl can't do anything around here without being questioned on her motives," I hissed, now a little angry.

He simply glared back at me but did not say another word.

When we _finally_ reached the Great Hall, Jojo ran off presumably towards our room, and I was finally sitting in front of my soon to be full plate in between my brother and Theodore, Professor Dumbledore made his way to the podium as he always did, after the First Years were sorted into their houses. Slytherin had had a nice lot this year and it did not go unnoticed when Draco and Tracey exchanged looks that said they were going to scare the piss out of the poor children.

I almost told them not to but I kind of wanted to see it in action so I refrained.

As Dumbledore spoke he told us that Hagrid, the games keeper at Hogwarts, was away on business and his position as Care of Magical Creatures Professor would be temporarily taken by Professor Grubbly-Plank. He also briefly mentioned the replacement of our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher by one Dolores Umbridge, which wasn't surprising thanks to the last one being a follower of the Dark Lord disguised with polyuice potion, but as soon as he tried to move on to the next subject, the woman he mentioned, _Umbridge_ , clad head to toe in an obnoxious tickle me pink, cleared her throat.

As if she had something to follow up on; like she wanted her own _introduction_.

She wasn't the best looking woman in the world, that was for sure; in fact, she looked a bit toad-ish. She looked _very_ toad-ish, in fact. Her face was pinched and her eyes were beady like a toads were right before they were about to snack on a fly or some other poor insect. But something about her was familiar, like I'd seen her when I was younger and she was a vague memory poking at my head or something.

Maybe she was one of mother's silly book club friends from when Draco and I were much younger. I remember mother had tried to explain to us when we had come asking questions that they were simply going over the chapter's they'd read in great detail; really they were bantering back and forth about the latest gossip among the purebloods while sipping on their expensive wines and spirits.

But the women in front of the podium didn't look like any of the women mother would ever invite over to our home.

She was too…pink. Mother was a fan of black or green, or silver, and nothing else in range of color scheme.

"Thank you Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome."

 _Salazar's spit, I had no idea someone's voice could be more obnoxious than Puginson's!_

Her voice was too high, too sweet and it left a bitter taste in my mouth. I snarled at her from my seat and I felt Draco jab me in the ribs with his elbow. I looked at him and he gave me a glance that said " _behave_." I shook my head no with an angry flick of my hair over my shoulder and he rolled his eyes. She continued.

"I thought I would say just a few words. I am here at the Ministry of Magic's bequest, under Educational Decree twenty-two; that if a Headmaster is unable to fill a post that the Ministry should select someone for the position," She clapped her hands together at the end of her sentence and smiled.

Her face split into a too happy grin as she looked at the student body before her. She looked at us like we were some sort of prey. I continued to listen on edge, while also noticing that my fellow students were just as bothered by her. I itched at my wrist involuntarily.

"The Ministry has always considered the education of our children to be of _vital_ importance, and the passing down of this noble art must be passed down. Without progress, stagnation. However, progress for the _sake_ of progress is to be discouraged-,"

 _What the bloody hell is she talking about!?_

I looked at my brother and I could tell that that common look of outrage that passed on my face on nearly a daily basis thanks to my short temper was present and I was even more miffed when I saw that he had no surprise on his face; not even the slightest hint that he was upset. In fact, he looked a bit pleased.

Did he know that this wench was going to come into the school? I couldn't believe it! He did know! This was clearly the Ministry's way of keeping Potter and whoever else believes that the Dark Lord has returned, under their power and control. To ensure that people were keeping their mouths shut. There's no other explanation for it! Dumbledore would've never let that pink git into the school otherwise.

I sneered at my twin and he saw it but simply ignored it. Theodore seemed very concerned that I was glaring at my brother so harshly.

 _How could he have known and not told me?!_

"There are large changes to come! Changes walking the fine line between order and chaos. Know that these are only for the best, and to prevent the destruction of our civilization. Thank you."

And with that she sweetly and calmly sat back down in her seat between Professor Snape, whom I could not wait to speak to now that I knew this _creature_ was infesting our school, and Professor McGonagall, whom looked murderously at the pink devil.

 _Good, Gryffindor Head of House or not I know Professor McGonagall can kick that slimy toads arse if she wants to!_

"Cessy, you alright? You look like you might murder someone," Theodore asked me quietly, using the nickname that mainly only he and Draco used for me.

His voice was sincere and concerned and I wondered vaguely what his opinion on all of this Dark Lord stuff was. Was he on my side? Or the Ministry's? And _when_ , more importantly, did my side all of a sudden match the side of _Potter's_?

 _Ugh, gross,_ _it's like I'm a_ _bloody_ sympathizer _to Potter's cause!_

"I'm fine," I muttered.

Dumbledore finished his speech and then the feast began. I wasn't so hungry all of a sudden and barely even looked at my dinner plate. Instead I occasionally took sips of the sweet pumpkin juice and glared at my lap quietly.

"Eat," My brother demanded.

I did not respond to him nor did I eat like he asked. I could feel him growing irritated with me but I didn't care all that much.

He had definitely known that that toad woman was coming to Hogwarts and he had failed to mention it to me even after he knew my standpoint on the Ministry at the moment. Sure, father was well known and respected at the Ministry and because of that we lived a luxurious life but that did not mean that the Ministry was all sunshine and rainbows like they painted it out to be. It was quite corrupt and I was not going to stand for it!

 _Wait…_

I looked up from my lap, feeling both Draco's and Theodore's eyes on me, and looked over at the pink abomination that sat at the head table with my Professor's. She worked for the Ministry that was for sure; maybe she knew father?

 _And if she knew father then that must mean father told Draco of her coming here…why wouldn't he tell me though?_

I wanted very badly to address the subject with my twin but I also didn't want to let him know that I knew him and father had been keeping secrets from me. There must've been a reason he didn't want me knowing about Umbridge and I wasn't going to just ask him about it. I had to be sneaky.

"You really should eat, Cecily," Theodore looked at me with his big blue eyes, a very deep blue they almost looked purple, and sweet reddened cheeks and pushed my plate toward me slightly.

Despite him having a bit of a crush on me I was positive that this concern was coming straight from the anchor of our friendship. He did tend to look after me quite a bit while we were at school; a feat that I had often wondered if my brother had put him up to but over the years I had come to almost like it.

I smiled at him faintly and bit daintily into the seasoned roast beef that had been served. He smiled at my accommodation. I heard Draco sigh in frustration and I knew it could only have been because I refused to listen to him and instead listened to Nott. I grinned cheekily at him.

"You are the bane of my existence, little sister."

"And you are the sunshine of my life, big brother," I kissed his cheek lightly and he groaned, wiping it off as if I had cooties.

Theodore laughed at our sibling bickering. For the rest of the feast the Slytherin's chatted about nonsense. Most were wondering about our knew teacher and her horrid teaching skills. I could only imagine what she would have us doing. Probably brainwashing us with Ministry bullshit. I shuttered at the thought.

Across the Great Hall I heard some noise from the ever obnoxious Gryffindor table and noticed that in the middle, as usual, sat the Golden Trio with the two Weasel twins making a commotion. The red and gold lions all seemed to be enjoying themselves. All except one, of course. Potty had not cheered up since the train platform from what I could see.

 _What the bloody hell is his problem? It's like he's not letting himself feel anything but self-pity, pathetic little git._

He sat with his glasses almost falling off of his nose and his head down, looking at his lap. Much like I had been to be quite honest. His bushy haired friend, Granger, looked as though she was trying to include him in the conversation but he wasn't having it. He had looked up for a second when his friends hadn't been paying attention and his eyes made contact with mine. Now of course any other person would've looked away but I had no need. I was not afraid of Potter nor would I ever look away like I was.

He seemed shell shocked that I was looking at him in the first place, which admittedly I normally wouldn't do, but I was going to blame it on the twins making so much noise. It had distracted me. He seemed indifferent while he looked at me; like he was on the verge of sneering at me but also kind of not bothering to. I felt the same expression on my face. But since this was getting quite awkward I decided to look away first, back at my brother, who was getting ready to take the First Years to their tour of the school.

I did not feel any amount of jealousy at that. While he was showing the little brats around I would be comfy in my bed with Jojo cuddled into my torso, snoozing.

"Good luck with them, brother," I said to him, clear sarcasm in my tone.

He picked up on it and while he was leading them away he flashed me his middle finger. I laughed.

"Ready to head to the common room?" Theodore asked.

"Oh yes, I can't wait to get into bed. I'm not sure if you're aware, Theodore but it's very exhausting being this pretty and angry all the time," I teased.

The pink tint in his cheeks made me scold myself; I forgot how easy it was to flirt with Nott. I'd have to keep reminding myself that every time I did he probably wrote about it in one of his journals like a giddy little girl. The blush on his cheeks would indicate that, at least.

"I wasn't aware, no," He said, his voice catching.

I sighed, wondering just how much he actually liked me.

 _This is going to be harder than I thought…_


	3. Chapter 2: Most Bitter Rebel Ever

**CHAPTER TWO: MOST BITTER REBEL EVER**

* * *

"Miss Malfoy."

I looked up from my breakfast, untouched, thanks to my already irritated self, and saw that Professor Snape was holding out my intended schedule for the year.

 _Ah! Just the man I was looking for._

I smiled and took it from him. I didn't bother looking at it but instead turned my full attention to him.

"Professor, it's good to see you. I've been meaning to speak with you-," I started.

"Seeing as it's not even been a full week yet and therefore, couldn't possibly have anything to do with a complaint with your courses I could only assume it has to do with a certain new Professor?" He asked, jumping to the correct conclusion.

Snape and I had always had an easy relationship. He was me and my brother's godfather and had mentored Draco and I since we were very young. When we started Hogwarts he had taken us under his wing; me more than my brother. Draco tended to like to do things on his own. I, however, was shit at Potions and needed all the help I could get. Severus was also the reason I was so good at wand work. Had it not been for his expertise in teaching me at such a young age I wouldn't be top of the class in it. I even beat Granger half the time. Plus, Severus was the one person in the world, besides my twin, that I could vent all of the taboo things that run through my mind to.

I could trust him with my life; more if that were possible.

Don't be fooled though; my admiration of him and vice versa did not mean that he went easy on me. In fact, I think he liked to challenge me more just _because_ of our personal relationship. He knew how to push me over the edge but it bettered me in a way only he knew it could. For that I was grateful.

"You'd be correct in assuming so," I said.

"As it's not even the end of breakfast, nor have you ever had Professor Umbridge yet, I don't think it appropriate to discuss at this moment. However, should you drop by my office after classes I would feel free to reflect on your first day of classes with you," He said with a tone a finality, and with the tiniest of smiles, he continued to hand out the Slytherin's schedules.

"Great…" I muttered to myself and turned back toward my breakfast.

 _This means that I'll have to endure her first…_

I nibbled on some eggs thanks to Theodore's incessant pushiness that I eat; apparently my temper being so easily rattled was not a good enough excuse for him to have me skip a meal. So I ate, a little spitefully, and wondered vaguely what on earth could've been taking my brother so long. He hadn't walked down with us to the Great Hall. I rolled my eyes as I spotted Puginson and noticed how she eagerly waited for his arrival. Tracey was here too so at least I knew he wasn't on a patrol or anything.

"He's probably tired from last night's patrol," Theodore suggested and I shrugged, not really caring all that much.

All I really could focus on at the moment was how much I wanted to be back in my bed curled up with Jojo, and not going to classes. I had never been so jealous of my cat.

After breakfast we both headed towards our first double period of the day: Divination.

"Excellent. Loony Trelawney. Can't wait to hear what she's going to predict about me this year." I chuckled as I recalled that in Third Year, when we had first added Divination to our schedules, she had predicted that I would meet a terrible end that year. She had been wrong, clearly, because I was still alive.

"I wonder how Potter's gonna die this year," Theodore laughed.

She had also predicted Potty's death that year too but also clearly he had survived. Sadly.

"Oh yeah, can't wait for that one."

When we entered the classroom it looked just the same as it always did.

Teacups stacked so dangerously high that they were sure to fall. The multi-levelled classroom with its small circular tables and purple and red velvet table cloths on them with small crystal balls in the middle. Trelawney was humming to herself at her desk, looking at a trinket that hung from her neck. She paid no mind to her students as we all strolled in. Behind me, I heard a breathless Draco call my name.

"Where've you been?" I asked.

His cheeks were flushed and I could tell he'd been sprinting to get to class. His uniform wasn't mussed or anything but his hair was a bit out of place which was very odd. It was a rare occasion when my brother let a hair slip out from its perfect due and as it was he was combing it down, getting it to its rightful state.

God forbid Draco Malfoy look anything less than perfect.

I, on the other hand, had no problem rolling out of my bed without brushing my thick and obnoxiously long hair-mainly due to it being more of a hassle-or pressing my uniforms before I wore them-also due to it being a complete hassle. Thankfully my mother was paranoid and had my Slytherin attire pressed and neat for me before the school year started. Luckily today was only the first day so I didn't have to worry about any wrinkles.

"Sleeping."

My brother's voice was low and rough; like he'd just woken up. Which he had. Ah, so we had been right; it was last night's patrols that had him so tired.

Once we were all settled in, Draco with Puginson and Greengrass at one table and Zabini and Nott at mine, along with the rest of our year plus the Gryffindor's, Trelawney finally looked up from her gaudy necklace. She eyed me quickly and gave me a sad look; as if she was waiting for me to drop dead at that very moment. Her eyes skirted over to someone behind me and I couldn't help but follow her gaze. She was now looking at Potty himself, sat two rows above me with Weasel and Granger at his side, of course. He gave Trelawney that look that he always did when she was about to predict his death; the " _are you joking?_ " look that we'd all sort of adopted over the years when it came to this nutter of a professor. But instead of her spouting out her most recent prediction about the Boy Wonder she looked back at me.

And then back at him.

And then back at me again and a small smile spread across her face.

 _The hell?_

"No death prediction this year, Professor?" Potter's voice was skeptical and also mocking.

He'd clearly seen her reaction when she was looking back and forth between the two of us.

"What? Oh no, no! No, dear, no. No," She sputtered and clutched at her pendant while continuing to look back and forth between Potty and I. She still had that odd smile on her face.

I started to get irritated; what could she _possibly_ be thinking while looking at the two of us like that? Did she see a near future of me strangling Potter to death? Because if she kept this up much longer I'm sure it would happen.

"You two are in for a splendid year," She spoke softly, her voice much lower than usual and her eyes had a glassed over look. It almost concerned me.

"Professor, shouldn't we start the lesson?" Granger spoke up and for once I was glad for her incessant school girl persona.

Trelawney jumped at her voice, focused in on her next to Potter and nodded furiously, now excited to start our day.

"The hell was that about?" Theodore asked irately.

I couldn't blame him; I was upset with it myself. But then again, everyone knew Trelawney's predictions or intuitions were always wrong. She couldn't possibly insinuate that Potty and I would have a splendid year… _together_ …could she? No, impossible. I hated the git and he returned the feelings and that was that. The most we could ever both enjoy of our time together was when we were dueling, or spitting nasty insults back and forth.

"Don't know. Don't care," I answered Theodore and started flipping through the pages in our text book.

Trelawney was already started on the lesson and I made sure not to look behind me in fear of what I would see.

First; Draco's direct glare behind me which I just knew had an accusatory look in his eyes, and second; Potty's curious gaze as well, probably pondering the possibility that maybe we _could_ have a splendid year. I nearly scoffed at the was so susceptible to things that I'm sure he was already working out some ways in his head to try and be civil with me rather than how we usually were. He was in for a surprise if he thought I was going to participate.

Instead I focused on Theodore next to me and Trelawney at the front of the class room. I didn't even want to think about the two behind me.

* * *

Jojo was not happy with me. She angrily caught up to me as Theodore and I made our way to the Great Hall for some lunch. Apparently, and this was according to Greengrass whom had went back to the dorm after Divination, she had been clawing at my bed sheets and angrily searching through my trunk, presumably for the treats that I had promised her. I had had them in my bag with me rather than in my trunk knowing she would've searched it.

"Here you go, you greedy little girl," I offered her her favorite chicken flavored puffy pastry treat especially made for cats and she took it in one gulp.

I wondered if she had even tasted it.

"You know this is why you're so big!" I told her. She glared at me, eyeing the bag in my hand which she knew held more of her beloved treats.

"No it's not, you're perfect the way you are, Jojo." Theodore chimed in and she mewed at him, diving in and out between his legs and rubbing up against him.

"Traitor! I'm the one that feeds you!" I said, glaring at my traitorous cat. She seemed all too comfortable rubbing up against Theodore while ignoring me.

"You're not the only one, Cessy," He chuckled and picked her up.

She was a large black cat with beady green eyes the color of gems and seeing Theodore, muscly and tall as he was, carry her made me laugh. She was so large it was hysterical; nearly the size of a small dog.

He snatched her treats from me and fed her two off the bat. I couldn't help but feel a bit peeved at the triumphant look she gave me when he continued to feed her.

"What a brat," I muttered.

"C'mon, let's get some lunch and then we can head to the dreadful Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm sure you can't wait to assess how terrible Professor Umbridge is going to be."

"Ugh, more like hoping to die before I have to endure such a catastrophe," I groaned as we walked into the hall.

Draco was already there with Blaise and Crabbe and Goyle at his side. They all seemed to be talking about something excitedly and I could only presume it had to do with the picture of a famous quidditch player that Blaise held in his hands. Puginson was trying desperately to be a part of the conversation but wasn't managing it very well. Greengrass was looking at Theodore and myself, waiting for us to come join her, presumably. I felt slightly annoyed.

It's not like I didn't like Greengrass it was that she tried too hard to be my friend because of my _status_ , not because of who I was. She knew the Malfoy name, as any respectable witch or wizard would, and had been hoping to climb the social latter through it. It had almost worked with me; my brother was more open to her friendship for he so arrogantly loved anyone that worshiped him. I simply couldn't look past the fact that she wanted to reap the benefits of my name rather than just be my genuine friend in the first place and _then_ enjoy the benefits of the Malfoy name. At least then I wouldn't be so rude to her.

Jojo meowed at Theodore as we sat down and she sat calmly next to him, trying to be inconspicuous about looking at the treat bag every now and again. He fed her another one just to annoy me.

"You're going to get her fat," I said and munched on the sausage and gravy sandwich I had had set in front of me immediately after sitting down thanks to my brother.

I sat across from him while he continued to talk to his friends. Daphne was on my left, chuckling at Theodore cooing at my pet.

"Oh please," He said, "She chases the owls more than any other cat in this castle she's as fit as she can be."

"She only chases the owls she doesn't like. I think she actually may have a friend she likes to visit in the Owlery. Do you remember all those white feather I had to pluck from her fur last year?" I recalled.

"Oh yeah, she looked a mess." He laughed and she growled slightly, knowing we were talking about her. "Oh alright, we'll stop gossiping about you," He told her and I laughed.

"So are we all ready to meet Umbridge?" Parkinson spoke, making sure her nasally voice was heard throughout the table.

I instantly felt myself tense. No, I wasn't ready at all to meet the Ministry scum that was inevitably going to hate me for saying some of the things I would surely say due to my inability to keep my damn mouth shut. I knew something she'd say about how the Ministry is only trying to do what's best for the students would piss me off one way or another, because no, they were surely _not_ doing what was best for the students by covering up the fact that the Dark Lord has returned! I was going to ruin this class. I just knew it.

"We'll find out in about twenty minutes," Greengrass spoke, almost bitterly.

Maybe she disliked Umbridge as much as I did?

After lunch wrapped up Draco eyed me and gestured for me to follow close by him. The Slytherin's, clearly seeing that the Malfoy twins needed some siblings time, trailed behind us on our way to the Defense Against the Dart Arts classroom.

"You have to behave in this class, Cessy." My brother's tone suggested that he knew I wasn't going to but he desperately wanted me to.

"Why should I? The Ministry is interfering with our schooling just to hush us up about-,"

"Shhh!" He hissed at me and glared. His steel grey eyes were icy as he looked at me and I could only imagine that my expression matched his. "Don't."

"Don't _what_?" I hissed back, furious that he expected me to just let it slide that the Ministry was going to get us all killed.

"Just don't, Cessy." He warned before we entered the classroom.

Not much had changed besides the fact that it looked a bit cleaner than last year. The desks were neatly in their rows and on top of them held the text book for the lesson which looked oddly familiar. Like something we had studied in First Year. The curtains were drawn back to let the sunlight in and in the middle of the head of class sat the toad.

She was, again, clad in all pink with a very large scarf made of what looked to be feathers circling her neck. Her eyes watched us pour into her class and I couldn't help but compare it to that muggle story that I'd heard a long time ago of the witch welcoming the two kids walk into her home in hopes of cooking and eating them. Instead of Hansel and Gretel versus the witch it was now Draco and Cecily.

Except maybe not Draco because he clearly didn't seem to be on my side for this particular battle.

I sat at one of the desks near the middle on the far right side of the classroom with my brother sat right next to me. Theodore, looking a bit upset that he hadn't gotten to sit with me sat loyally _behind_ me instead, with Puginson next to him. He looked a bit annoyed at his desk partner. I wondered what made Draco sit with me in the first place. Usually he was sat with someone else in our classes but I could only guess he was worried that I was going to " _act out_ " with Umbridge.

He was mistaken if he thought he could prevent it.

The Gryffindor's walked in too with the Boy Wonder sitting two seats in front of my brother and I. I glared at the back of his head; still a bit mad about Divination. We hadn't had Transfiguration or Charms with the Gryffindor's so I hadn't had to look at Potty since this morning but the sight of him made me mad. Stupid Trelawney.

 _Great. Now I have Potter and Umbridge to_ both _torture me this class._

"Ehem."

Attention was drawn as soon as Umbridge's sweet voice sounded. I felt my insides tense and I scratched my wrist; my body completely uncomfortable with her being in my presence.

"Good afternoon class, lunch was good and well I presume?" She asked.

No one responded.

"I'd like to start by saying that your Defense Against the Dark Arts has been rather fragmented and quite frankly chaotic, has it not?" She waited, as if expecting a reply.

I glanced at my twin; watching him as he watched her. He seemed interested in what she was saying so far and I had to ask myself if maybe my brother had plans to actually enjoy her as a Professor. Maybe father had told him something about special treatment of the Malfoy twins at school while she was there. Maybe he had promised him that we would be treated better. Maybe he had promised our whole house would be treated better because we're Slytherin's.

 _Ugh, of course! How could I not see this before?!_

This was of course the _only_ reason my brother would be so open to the idea of this toad teaching us. Father had promised him, and I kind of hoped me by proxy, that we'd get special treatment by her! How pompous of him! My brother adored being treated better than others and being _recognized_ that he should be treated better than others and if a Professor was willing to give him the treatment he _thought_ he deserved then of course he'd be okay with whoever it was.

 _Ah, now everything is clear dear brother._

I narrowed my eyes at him. He could be so damn selfish sometimes. Couldn't he see that even if we _did_ get better treatment this year that it would ultimately lead to the same fate were we to be treated as any other student? That the Dark Lord would take over and destroy everything because the damn Ministry was trying to hide the fact that _exactly_ that wasn't happening?

"Know now that this is about to be rectified." She said this almost like a threat.

It made me feel uneasy and I felt a pit of worry bubbling in my stomach as I thought of what she meant by this. She couldn't possibly threaten to not let us use our magic, could she?

"As your new Professor I will be following the pre-approved, Ministry-prepared, theory-centered Defense lesson plan."

 _Salazar's shit. That is_ exactly _what she plans to do._

"Now. Copy this down." With the flick of her wand she started writing down notes that I was too furious to see properly thanks to the new veil of red that covered my vision.

Was she serious?! She couldn't just do this! We, as students, had a right to learn how to protect ourselves! What good was a Defense class if we couldn't even practice the bloody spells?! Was the Ministry really so corrupt that they'd force us to stifle our magic all so they could lie about what's really happening out there in our real world?!

Just as I was about to express my utter outrage by loudly and possibly violently speaking out to the pink devil, I felt Draco grab my hand so hard I could feel the bones crushing under his tight hold.

"Ow!"

" _Don't_."

There was enough venom in that one word that, were Draco an _actual_ snake like most of the Gryffindor's thought he was, I'm sure I would've been dead in seconds.

I, however, was just as, if not more, vicious as him and I sent my best glare toward him. It told him that I was _very_ mad; and _not_ willing to forgive so easily.

He looked almost hurt by the notion but right now I didn't really care. I was too furious, too red hot angry to care what he thought. I had to do something; I had to let this god awful toad of a woman know how wrong she was in doing something like this. I had to. I simply _had_ to.

Just as I was about to shoot my hand up into the air to speak my mind I noticed that the ever bushy haired Granger had beaten me to it.

 _Huh…maybe I should let her speak before I do…_

If my brother was so keen on me keeping my mouth shut about the bloody Ministry then maybe I could have someone else speak my mind for me. Granger, though I had rarely ever talked to her and wasn't particularly fond of her, seemed to have the same aggression toward addressing Umbridge as I did.

In the short encounters that we'd had, mainly ones of name calling, she was very proud as a Gryffindor and very smart and in tune with how the Ministry worked. She wouldn't be fooled. Besides, she had Potter telling her about the Dark Lord and obviously she would believe him. So maybe she would bring up some good points. Maybe, just maybe, I could give my brother a break from trying to save me from myself.

Only maybe though.

The real question was this; how long was Umbridge going to ignore Granger's hand in the air? It had been nearly ten minutes by now. I was surprised Granger hadn't lost her stamina at all though; her arm and hand was still stiff as a board. Once Umbridge noticed that everyone in the class was waiting anxiously for Granger to speak she sighed, as if she was terribly inconvenienced, and called on her.

"Yes?" She asked, as if she hadn't noticed her hand in the air at all.

Granger gratefully put her hand down but wasted no time.

"I wanted to know something about your course aims."

 _Not what I would've started with but it's a good lead to what the important things are._

I made a mental note to maybe secretly praise Granger for so boldly defying Umbridge. It was something I would've done. Hell, it was something I was most likely about to do myself after she was done speaking.

"They should be perfectly clear. Did you not read what was written on the board?" Umbridge's tone was offended and irritated but still, somehow, sweet.

She was a modern monster in a pink villain suit.

"I don't think they were clear at all Professor-," Granger's tone was equally irritated. "-It says nothing about using spells."

 _Ah! We've reached one good point!_

I was nearly giddy for Granger saying it so outright; I would've been more direct from the start but once again…I was trying to _behave_.

I glanced at my brother who was still gripping my hand tightly but was looking at Granger and Umbridge. It seemed he didn't trust me enough to give me any slack on the metaphorical leash he was holding me back with. While all of this was happening I vaguely noticed that Potter was angrily gripping the side of his desk. I could see his knuckles turning white from here and I frowned.

It made me mad that we had such similar reactions to Umbridge but there was really nothing I could do about that now.

"I can assure there will be no circumstance where you would need to use spells in my class!" Umbridge said, laughing.

Her rosy cheeks were flushed seemingly innocently but anyone with a conscience could see that she was growing more and more irritated with the Mudblood Gryffindor.

 _Maybe it was_ because _she was a Mudblood?_

There was no doubt in my mind that Dolores Umbridge wasn't discriminatory about blood status. Her clear disliking for Granger was evident of that.

"But surely the whole point of Defense is practical application?" Granger was truly offended now; her tone was not nearly at outraged as mine would've been but I could hear the insinuation of hatred in her voice.

"Miss Granger this class has been approved by Ministry experts, tell me dear, are you a Ministry expert?"

"No, but-,"

"Then you have to place challenging those who are-," Umbridge cut her off before anything else could be said and my hand itched to raise and finally be able to say what I'd been dying to. Now was my chance. "-We will be learning spells in a safe risk-free environment."

Before I could help myself, or even dare to look at my brother, my mouth opened and I started speaking.

"What good is theory based learning in the real world, Professor?"

At this, the ugly toad turned her attention to me. Upon seeing it was me who spoke her eyes burned into me. She looked me over, recognizing my prominent Malfoy features, looked next to me and saw my brother, and I swear her face burned a dark purple after realizing that yes, I was a Malfoy, but no I was not going to stand for her taking over my school. Immediately I saw that I had a new enemy. She recognized this too.

"Miss Malfoy…" She began, her voice catching. Apparently my father had not warned her of me. Perhaps he had told her that I would sit quietly and turn a blind eye? Foolish man. He, of all people, knew better than that for I had been defying him for nearly my entire life.

"Yes?" I prompted, almost eagerly; my aderenaline was pumping with the idea of a new enemy.

By now, I was sure I had several broken bones in the hand that Draco was holding.

"Cessy, _stop_ ," He hissed.

I ignored him. I was not going to forgive him for this. All of the student's eyes were on me, shocked to say the least that I had spoken out. I was kind of disappointed in them; I hadn't even said anything that was completely scandalous yet and they were all looking at me like I was some sort of queen of rebellion. Even Potter looked shocked.

"This is school-," Umbridge spoke calmly, not wanting to start a war with me too soon. "Not the real world. There is nothing out there waiting for you."

"What about Lord Voldemort?"

Gasps. Very loud gasps, some students even flinched back at the name. I couldn't believe it. Were they all so scared? Were they willing to pretend he wasn't back just for the sake of covering up their fear? What cowards!

It was not me who spoke his name, no, but Potter rather. Who else?

Umbridge was less than happy about this. I wasn't happy for what I was going to do either but, what could I say? My mouth had a mind of its own.

"And the Death Eaters too, Professor? How are we supposed to protect ourselves when there's dangers like that out there waiting for us?"

Draco dropped my hand to now hold his head in his hands; clearly ashamed and highly disappointed in me. I couldn't really care less at the moment.

 _Ah, here's the reaction I was hoping for!_

My fellow students were now looking at me like I was the Dark Lord himself; utter horror on each and every one of their faces.

Except Potter's.

If I wasn't mistaken there was something that flashed across his face which could have possibly been mistaken for respect. His green eyes were blazing as he looked at me; almost obnoxiously green. I scowled. I hated that I was involuntarily siding with him despite it being the _right_ side but I couldn't exactly help that we both knew what was right.

 _Ugh_.

I admit, speaking out against Death Eaters was bold; very bold and _dangerous_ if you thought about the Malfoy affiliation but I needed these people to see that Umbridge was _not_ on their side. She was going to get them killed by keeping them in the dark. The truth was the only thing that could prepare them for the oncoming war.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mister Potter. And same goes to you, Miss Malfoy." Umbridge's voice was no longer sweet but rather ridged.

Potter and I were becoming a fast growing problem in her eyes and I couldn't even feel sorry. If I was getting a message across then so be it. I could endure detention and the reduction of house points and all that nonsense; it wouldn't be my first offense and if it meant that maybe some of these bigots called my classmates started to realize the truth then maybe we could overcome whatever Umbridge had in store for us this year.

"I believe some of you have been told that a certain dark wizard, as well as his followers, has returned," Umbridge spoke to the whole of the class with clear and precise words. She was making sure everyone was paying attention. "This-is-a-lie."

"It's not a lie! I saw him-I fought him!" Potter was, not surprisingly, outraged.

"Detention, Mister Potter!"

"So according to you Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord?!" I could see the back of Potter's neck growing red with irritation and at the mention of my once sort of friend Diggory I nearly choked up.

Cedric was always so incessantly nice to me that over the course of Third and Fourth Year we had sort of become friends. I'd always had a nice time chatting with him and it had seemed that, at certain points in the year, he was the only one that would listen to me. He'd been there when not even my brother wanted to listen to me.

I had felt a very great loss at the end of last year in June when Cedric had been murdered. He was my friend and even though I was nasty to him most of the time he was also so joyful that I knew he'd do great things in the wizarding world. He'd come to his end way too soon; his life had been stolen and that was an injustice that needed to be rectified. At the memory of Cedric, I felt my chest tighten as Potter went on.

"That boy's death was a tragic accident," Umbridge said.

"It was murder! I saw it!" Potter was now standing his fists slamming on his desk. His Weasel friend put out an arm as if to stop him but Potter wasn't having it. "Do you realize what you're doing Professor?! You're basically damning these students to death."

"I think it's time class ended, children. You are all dismissed." Umbridge's tone was icy. "All but Mister Potter and Miss Malfoy."

 _Wonderful._

Potter looked murderousl at Umbridge and looked back at me. His expression didn't change but I could tell that he was almost glad he wouldn't have to talk to Umbridge alone. Maybe he thought I would be good backup?

As the rest of the class began to usher out of the door my brother and Theodore came over to me.

"Say one more thing Cessy and I swear to Salazar-,"

"What you'll disown me as a sister? Thanks for breaking my hand, by the way, really brotherly of you," I snarled at him.

His eyes were solid grey, looking at me with so much disdain that I was surprised he even stayed behind at all. Maybe it was that instinctual brotherly instinct to protect his little sister that made him stay. Who knew.

"You broke her hand?! Mate, what the hell!" Theodore glared at my brother now too and reached for my throbbing hand but I held it tightly to myself, not wanting either of them to look at it.

I wanted the burning to remind me what it stood for. And that was that Draco was _not_ on my side.

"You should both go."

I hoped the emptiness in my voice conveyed just how disappointed I was with my brother. Theodore didn't deserve it as much-though he hadn't stood up for me either but I couldn't blame him-so I sort of felt bad for the flash of hurt that crossed his face when I spoke. Draco looked like I had just stabbed him; a look of surprise crossed his features.

"Cessy I didn't mean to keep this from you I just-,"

"Go. Before Umbridge decides she's going to give you detention too." I growled at them and they both gave me sad looks.

I didn't want to hear whether or not Draco didn't mean to keep anything from me; right now all I wanted was for them to leave so I could get talking to Umbrdige over with. They left without another word. I sighed in slight relief and then made my way to the front of the room with Potter, clutching my aching hand. Umbridge had gone to her office for something and had said she would be back in a "jiffy."

"I didn't realize you felt so passionately about protecting yourself from Voldemort's followers," Potter spoke immediately and I scowled at him.

"If you think this makes us allies, Potty, you're sorely mistaken. I'm nearly looking out for the good of mankind. If the Ministry wants to cover up the fact that your enemy has returned, it's basically signing a death sentence to everyone in the wizarding world. Death Eaters are vicious and cruel and they will do anything You-Know-Who says. If that means murdering children, which clearly they're not against evident of our mutual friend Diggory, then they'll do it."

While I spoke I noticed he had the tiniest of smiles on his face. He looked almost like he was in a joke that I wasn't and it was making me even more irritated than I already was. Why was I even talking to Potter about this stuff?

"Sounds an awful lot like we _are_ on the same side then, Malfoy."

"Ehem."

Umbridge had emerged from her office and was now descending the stairs. She had that same sickly sweet smile she had on when I'd first seen her in the Great Hall. It made me want to claw her eyes out.

"I want to make this clear: behaving in my class as you both did today could warrant arrest if we were at the Ministry. But since we are merely in your place of learning I cannot begrudge you of the lies you've been told and now believe. You've earned a week's detention; both of you with me starting tomorrow night." Her voice was high; almost excited.

I suddenly feared detention; if she was this happy to just give it to us I could only imagine what the detention would consist of.

My mind flashed suddenly to a ridiculous image of the medieval times with large castles and dungeons with torture chambers and Potter and I hanging upside down by only our toes while Umbridge tossed hungry rats at us so they could nibble on our noses.

 _Ugh, I hate rats…_

"You are wrong in believing that You-Know-Who has returned-Ut! Shh!" She cut Harry off before he could even begin. "I fear that because you two are so susceptible to these lies that it might interfere with your learning."

 _What the bloody hell is she talking about?_

She wasn't making any sense but I suppose to a psycho it made perfect sense; hence why she was saying it. I honestly believed that she believed what she was doing was _right_ in her eyes. And that was terrifying.

"Detention with me tomorrow night at seven o'clock sharp." She drew her wand out and I almost sputtered in horror as she pointed it at me. I could've beeen mistaken but I thought I saw Potter reach for his wand in anger before she spoke a clear " _Episky_ ," and suddenly my hand wasn't so sore.

She had healed my hand. Which meant that she had seen my lovely brother breaking it in the first place and didn't stop it?

 _This woman is a complete nutter._

"Now, you are dismissed." She didn't hesitate in clapping at us at the end of her sentence and as both Potter and I angrily made our way out of the classroom I could feel her beady eyes watching us the entire time.

Once the door was closed I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in.

"Bloody hell, she's horrific," I muttered, mainly to myself, but Potter heard and nodded his head in agreement.

"We need to do something about her," He spoke casually, like we _weren't_ enemies and didn't spit insults at each other all the time. Like we were on good terms.

I nearly laughed.

"Um-," I cleared my throat, "-we?"

He looked exasperatedly at me for a moment and then seemed to realize to whom he was talking to. A look of disgust passed his features. I made sure mine matched.

 _Good, back to where we started._

"Right, like a Malfoy would ever do something to help out."

"Oh, you mean like I _wasn't_ just defying that pink ugly toad at the same exact time you were?" I snarled at him.

We were both walking down the hall towards where I was headed to Potions and I could only assume since he wasn't going in the opposite direction we shared Potions together too.

 _Fantastic. Really great._

"Why?" He had stopped in the middle of the hall to narrow his eyes at me and ask me "why" in a very accusatory tone.

"Why what, Potter?" I had no time to deal with his antics today but I found myself stopping too.

Honestly all I wanted to do was curl up on my bed and fall asleep with Jojo.

"Why would you defy her, like you did? It's not very Malfoy of you."

"Oh well since it wasn't very _Malfoy_ of me I guess I'll go back and tell her I was just joking then!" I rolled my eyes at the daft boy before me and honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing.

 _What the hell does "it wasn't very Malfoy of you" even mean?!_

"No, I meant, it's not _like_ you. I'm surprised. You kind of went against everything you've ever done in the past four years."

"No, I didn't, Potter. You just haven't been paying close enough attention; no surprise there."

At this he rolled his eyes at me for my rude tone but I did see a flash of curiosity pass on his face. His brows furrowed together as he thought about this and I wondered if his brain would explode from thinking too much.

"Listen, Potty, I'd love to stay and chat all day but Pofessor Snape is going to have my head, and yours, if we don't get going so…" I stepped away from him as if to head toward the Potions classroom near the dungeons but was stopped abruptly by some invisible force. I tried walking again, this time with more force, and got knocked on my arse quite harshly.

"Ouch!" I landed on my rear and the hard stone of the floor wasn't an easy fall.

"The hell…?" Potter's voice was just as surprised as I was.

Even more surprising; he offered me his hand to help me up. Not so surprising; I refused it and stood up all on my own, dusting myself off in the process.

I rounded on him; my eyes hard as steel and my body on the verge of shaking from anger. I'd been through too much already in one day; I didn't need to add anything else.

"What did you do?!" I seethed.

"You think I did this?" He asked, annoyed at my accusation.

He stepped forward toward where I was just pushed onto my backside and gently placed his hand in the air. It was met with a vibrating pulse that made his hand push back, just as my whole body had been forcefully shoved before. I heard him grunt in annoyance and he decided to try going back towards where we came from; closer to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Only he didn't put his hand out this time; instead he assumed that whatever this little trick was was only on one side of the hall.

He was wrong.

Like me, his whole body was tossed back onto the ground and he landed on the stones of the castle with a loud thud. He muttered a curse under his breath and then quickly stood up.

"Okay, this isn't funny Potter, just stop now so we can get to class."

"Malfoy, I swear on my mother's grave, I'm not doing this."

And this, at least, I could believe. He wouldn't swear on his dead mother if he wasn't serious. At least I hoped not; otherwise he was just a pure git.

"Well, well, I guess it does work-!"

"Guess we should've set it up at a better location-,"

"How could we have known that it would be so affective though? This was clearly the only way we could've known it would work."

"Good point, Freddie-,"

"I tend to make those, Georgie."

I was already getting several different ideas on how I was going to murder the two Weasel twins as soon as I got out of this contraption while they showed up, seemingly out of nowhere, to assess their little trap.

Or whatever this was.

"Fred! George!" Potter seemed possibly relieved that the two dimwitted red-heads had shown up but I knew better.

These two were trying out one of their silly trinkets and Potter and I had been the guinea pigs; I was less than pleased.

"Hey, Harry. Sorry you were the victim to our latest invention-,"

"Seems like a real torture that you were caught with a Malfoy too-,"

"At least it's the prettier one, right Georgie?"

"Oh yeah, Fred, I don't think I'd be as happy to have caught the ferret Malfoy. Tell me Cecily, how's our little trap working out for you?"

Weasel One and Weasel Two now addressed me directly and I growled. Normally I would've possibly laughed at their tricks and slyly congratulated them on their antics but since I was now playing victim to whatever game they were playing I was suddenly much less amused.

In fact, I wasn't amused at all; I was murderous.

"Get me out of here right now or I'll jelly-legs jinx you both for a month!" I couldn't hide the sincere hatred for them in my tone at the very moment.

"C'mon guys, we're both late for Potions with Snape and he'll give me detention for a month just for fun," Potter reasoned with them.

It was a valid point. Severus wouldn't be as cruel with me but he would certainly enjoy punishing Potty when we eventually got to his class. I could only imagine the glee on his face now as he was realizing that the Golden Boy was late and he had valid reason to punish him at all. He'd probably be less thrilled that I was late; but still willing to see reason as he always was with me.

"Oh alright, alright! Now normally we would love to see the looks on your faces when we tell you how you're really supposed to get out of this trap, however-,"

"I don't think we would want to face the wrath of you, Harry, if we made you go through with it."

"And we especially wouldn't want to have to face Malfoy after that either."

"No, Freddie, certainly not.

"Certainly not." Fred nodded in agreement and the two of them looked at me with almost guilty looks.

"Please stop talking and get us out of here!" I was yelling now and I could feel my face reddening from anger.

Together both twins got their wands out and muttered an incantation that I couldn't hear. It took only a moment for them to realize that it didn't work so they tried again. And again. And once more.

 _Oh my Salazar; is it not going to work?!_

"Uh, we've got a bit of a problem…"

"Our counterspell isn't working on it properly-,"

"It is a prototype to be fair-,"

"So I guess the only way you two can get out of this is-,"

"You have to kiss to release the spell."

"We have to _what_?!" This came from both Potter and I.

I swear had our voices been much louder we could've broken the stained-glass window next to us.

This was not happening. I couldn't kiss Potty! He was…he was Potty! Ew! He was my nemesis! He was everything I'd been routing against for the past four years of my schooling; he was repulsive, obnoxious, idiotic, and most of all he was Harry Golden Boy Potter.

No way; I was not doing this.

I would find way out of this.

I looked over at Potter and saw that he was just as disgusted as I was. Good. At least that meant we were both on the same page. There was no way we were doing this. There had to be another way. We had to find another way.

 _I_ would find another way.

At least, I _hoped_ I would.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:** Hello! I hope any of you that are reading this story are finding it somewhat interesting! I just wanted to give a disclaimer that I (obviously) am not JK Rowling and own nothing of the Harry Potter world except for my character, Cecily. This is the only disclaimer I'll be giving. _

_On another note, I am curious to know what you think of Cecily! Is she too much like your typical Malfoy twin sister? I'm trying to avoid that stereotype; we are just beginning the story so we have a lot to discover about her. Also, if you hadn't already caught on, this story begins with the start The of Order of the Pheonix._

 _Now I'm not going to beg any of you to leave reviews or anything because that's up to you; it does motivate me to write though!_

 _Anyways I hope you liked this chapter and that you all have a nice day!_

 _~Alyssa~_


	4. Chapter 3: I Must Not Tell Lies

**CHAPTER THREE: I MUST NOT TELL LIES**

* * *

I wasn't entirely sure why I had thought for even a second that Fred and George blood-traitor Weasley were funny at all. They weren't. They were wretched gits whom would surely feel my wrath as soon as I was out of this contraption.

"The bloody hell do you mean we have to kiss?!" Potter snarled at them before I had the chance.

"Well…" George started and both of the twins looked up toward the ceiling.

I followed their gaze, my whole body tense with fury and I swear I could've broken my hand _again_ by punching them right about now and I would've been pleased by the pain it brought.

Broken knuckles would've been much less a pain than having to hear that I had to snog Potty to get out of here!

What the twins were looking at above us seemed to be some sort of plant. A plant that looked a lot like holly leaves and red berries.

"It's sort of a mistletoe that we've jinxed so that unsuspecting victims-,"

"Such as yourselves-,"

"Are forced to snog and be eternally embarrassed-,"

"For the rest of their lives-,"

"Or at least just during the Holidays, especially Christmas-,"

"Yeah, that's the idea; some would never let people live it down."

The twins were going to die very soon; my hands were itching for their murder.

"You are going to suffer very slow deaths; I swear it on Salazar," I let as much venom and hostility seep into my tone as I could muster.

I wanted to make it clear just how much they had pissed me off.

"Alright, easy now-," Potter began, glaring at me. He paused for a moment and I saw him take a slow breath. "What if we just close our eyes and get it over with?" He suggested.

I only stared at him in horror for a moment before the both of us gagged at the idea. I could not even _imagine_ myself snogging Potter for the life of me without getting sick at the thought.

He was certainly not the boy I planned on giving my first kiss to; oh no, no. Most certainly not.

"What exactly did you jinx the mistletoe with?" I glared at the two redheads.

If _anyone_ was going to get us out of this it was _me_ , and I needed to know exactly how they had jinxed the damned plant before I began any cursing on this silly force field.

"Really simple magic, it's just a binding charm combined with a force field charm-,"

"And the solution spell is that the two victims have to snog, so that took a lip binding charm too."

 _Ugh, perfect. Devious morons._

I reached for my wand in my robe pockets and quickly muttered three different unlocking charms right in a row; putting all of the force of my magic behind it just so that it would hopefully work. I begged my magic to maybe perhaps bend the rules and work just a bit.

The first two spells didn't seem to work but with enough frustration put into the last one I angrily spat it out.

" _Finite Incantatem!_ "

No sound was heard and nothing seemed to have changed so I looked over at Potter expectantly. He noticeably swallowed, clearly nervous that it hadn't worked and I crossed my fingers as he reached his hand over toward where the force field was. He looked at me hesitantly one last time before attempting to push his hand through.

 _I swear to Merlin, if this doesn't work and I'm left having to snog Potty Golden Boy I will end my life right here and now!_

His hand went straight through.

 _Thank, Salazar!_

"Yes!" I cheered and quickly removed myself from the hallway that we'd been stuck in.

"Nice work, Malfoy."

I looked at Potter and paused my elation for a moment to give him a curious look. Yes, I had saved us both from humiliation but that didn't mean he had to be nice to me now. That's not how it worked with the whole nemesis thing.

"Uh, thanks?" I said, trying hard not to make it sound too suspicious.

Apparently I had failed because he simply rolled his eyes at me; annoyed with me for not being able to take a compliment perhaps. I couldn't help it; he was being complicated and I didn't need any more complications. I chose to look away from him and turn my attention to the reason-or rather _reasons_ -behind our mishap.

I looked straight at the twins and a slow murderous grin made its way to my face. Rightfully so they both looked a bit terrified. In truth the twins and I had never been on the best of terms nor had we been on the worst however, this event was going to show them just how nasty my jinxes could be. Crabbe and Goyle could vouch for that.

The twins' freckled faces paled as they realized that I was now free to do with them as I pleased and I planned to do monstrous things. Humiliating things.

A joyous notion on my behalf.

"You have three seconds to start running before I hex you both."

And run they did. Not that I didn't plan on hexing them-I was going to do that whether they ran or not-but it was fun watching them think they could get away so easily.

"You really are not the nicest person in the world, Malfoy." Potter's voice rang over to me and I looked at him with a confused expression.

His tone was harsh this time. I raised an eyebrow at him.

 _First you're nice to me and now you're going to be nasty again? Make up your mind, Potty! At least I'm consistent with my hatred of you!_

"Since when is this a _surprise_ to you?"

"It's not, I suppose. I don't know why I bothered saying it," He muttered, looking angrily at me and also at himself. Why he would be upset with himself was a concept I didn't want to dwell on.

I scowled at him again and felt further irritation with him. Now that we were both out of that trap I could properly hate on him. He stood there with his lanky-no that wasn't the right word… _boney_ figure-most likely thanks to his lack of diet during the summer- a scowl on his face as he looked at me and even if he _did_ have pretty eyes-which I would never admit to anyone but my own subconscious-I simply _couldn't_ picture it. I couldn't _believe_ we had come so close to having to snog one another. It was such a ridiculous idea!

"Do me a favor Potter, and I'll do the same kindness?"

"Oh? We're doing _kindnesses_ for one another now?" He sounded disbelieving and almost mocking. "What sort of favor could I _possibly_ do for you?" He sneered.

" _Never_ speak of this to anyone…" I said, eyes narrowed and body tense.

I didn't even want to think about what would happen to my reputation as a Slytherin if word got out that I had almost had to lock lips with Slytherin's Most Hated. I'd be disowned; mocked for the rest of my life. Probably stripped of my Malfoy title. I wasn't quite sure if my fellow Slytherin's could even do that but I'm sure they'd find a way. And I especially feared to think about what my brother would do.

His fury would most likely match that of father's when I tried to ride one of his beloved peacocks when I was just a little girl. He had nearly lost his perfectly blonde head and I distinctly remember mother being furious with him for threatening to take away my meals for a week.

Draco, at least I hoped, would at least see _some_ reason. He'd be furious and probably do something stupid-most likely commit his first murder; whether it be Potter or I, I couldn't be too sure-but he'd see that it wasn't on purpose…wouldn't he?

"Oh, ha-!" He laughed once, bitterly. "That was a done deal before you even suggested it!"

At this, I found myself smiling, nodding my head in agreement. He seemed pleased that we were on the same page. I especially, was very happy that we both despised the idea of ever putting our mouths together. It just made sense that we would both hate the idea.

"Like I'd _ever_ want to have to explain how I had to snog Potty boy, ugh, disgusting!" I exclaimed.

"I could only imagine big brother Draco coming to the rescue and attempting to murder me for that one," He laughed again and I joined in, nodded.

I couldn't even imagine how red my poor brother's face would get if he'd ever heard of such a thing. He'd probably die. His little sister and his nemesis, _snogging_?! _Despicable_!

"That would be a right sight, for sure," I said and sighed. "Oh shoot!"

"What?" Potter asked, almost concernedly.

I snarled at him instantly. We were not _friends_ in fact, we were the _opposite_ of friends and he had no need to be concerned about anything I said. His back and forth with him being nice versus him being _himself_ was going to give me whiplash.

"Snape's gonna kill us!" I said and shot off running down the hall. I didn't bother waiting for Potter.

It was probably better that I didn't walk in late with Potter just to make sure no suspicion was drawn or anything. Severus would be more forgiving for me if I walked in alone anyway. No more civility from me; Potter was on his own.

* * *

"The bloody hell took you so long, Cessy?!"

"Oh yes, my hand is perfectly fine, brother, thank you for _asking_."

I glared at my twin, whom had softened his expression slightly at the mention of my previously broken hand.

It was fixed now; no thanks to him.

After I had listened in on the remainder of Potions Draco and Theodore had bombarded me about what Umbridge had said but I took a moment to myself before answering.

It turned out I had been right; Snape was a lot more forgiving towards me than he was to Potty when we had both finally come into the class and I had silently cheered to myself as I had gotten off punishment free whereas Potty was not so fortunate. He hadn't quite given Potter detention for a month like he'd predicted but he still gave him quite a bit of extra work to do which he had taken to blaming me for and for the whole of the class I could feel him glaring at me because of it.

Apparently he'd thought me abandoning him in the hall had something to do with Snape's extra work he was giving him. He was probably right.

"What happened with Umbridge? You didn't say anything stupid did you?" My brother had barely given me time to breathe before he started asking questions.

Theodore, next to me, looked at me sympathetically and nudged my brother in the ribs. Draco just glared at him.

We walked out of the Potions room with me in between the two. Theodore's arm kept brushing mine as we walked and Draco snatched my hand up to examine it. Apparently some guilt had slipped in his head between the obsession of me keeping my mouth shut and him keeping secrets from me. Go figure.

"I have detention with her tomorrow night and for the whole week," I said, forcefully taking my hand away from him.

If he was so keen on keeping secrets and keeping me out of the loop, then he didn't get to play protective big brother on top of that.

"What?!"

This voice was one I hadn't yet heard this year and it almost made me cringe. Draco and Theodore tensed next to me and Greengrass who had been trailing behind us with Puginson and Blaise, tensed as well at the voice. At this reaction from her I raised an eyebrow.

Graham Montague had made himself known quite loudly as he strolled down the hall. His very being screamed for attention as he walked proudly, and ferociously, towards our little group. Daphne noticeably swallowed hard and darted her eyes every which way, not looking at him. I narrowed my eyes at Montague; only assuming why Greengrass would have this reaction.

We had just barely made it to the common room portrait when he had shouted his exclamation.

As far as I knew I was the only one that had spoken and so I could only assume he was upset about something I'd said.

"Montague." I greeted with a nod of my head but a threat in my voice.

"I'm sorry, did I hear you wrong, Malfoy?" He asked, his eyes licking up and down my body quickly before continuing. "Did I hear you say you had detention with Umbridge starting _tomorrow_ _night_?"

I glared at him. So what if I had detention with the toad tomorrow night, what was it to him? Just as I was about to speak in my very angry tone that I saved especially for Montague, Draco cut in.

"What business is it of _yours_ , Montague?" He addressed the older boy with so much disdain in his voice that it was a wonder they hadn't started fist fighting immediately upon sight.

My brother hated Montague with every fiber of his being. Not only was he a right git to everyone in the house, he was also the biggest pervert in all of Hogwarts. A pervert, it seemed, that had taken a liking to me in our Third Year, and his Fourth. He had said countless nasty remarks to me about taking my virtue and how he couldn't wait until I grew into myself because I'd always been such a " _beauty_ " and how he simply couldn't wait to get a " _taste_."

And that was only some of the stuff he'd said. Other things he'd said to me, when Draco wasn't around were far more inappropriate and not to be repeated in civilized conversation.

"I don't know Malfoy, maybe it's the fact that she's supposed to be trying out for the quidditch team tomorrow night?" He sneered at my brother.

Draco was not intimidated, however.

Over the summer he'd grown another three inches and now towered over my five foot seven. He was at least a couple inches over six feet now. Montague was on the shorter side and had to look up to my brother as they stood in front of each other. And Draco might not have been intimidated by Montague; _I_ wasn't intimidated by Montague; but I was certainly upset but what he'd just said.

Because Montague was _right_ ; I _was_ supposed to try out for the team tomorrow night. How could I have forgotten? Umbridge would never let me go early just so I could try out for a game she probably loathed.

"So? You're the captain, reschedule it, you dimwit." My brother's tone did not lighten and I noticed he had moved himself in front of me, keeping me out of Montague's line of sight. Theodore had put his arm around me as well.

I rolled my eyes.

I did not need protecting! Montague may be a pervert but I was perfectly capable of dealing with him on my own. Besides he seemed more focused on quidditch talk than anything at the moment. These two buffoons had nothing to worry about. After all, they had left me on my own to defend myself against Umbridge and I was much more terrified of what _she_ could do to me rather than Montague.

"What, and inconvenience the rest of the house that _can_ actually make it to try outs? Your sister's fit, mate, but not _that_ fit."

"I'd watch your mouth Montague, or I might knock those perfectly paid for teeth out of your head," Draco's calm tone was much more effective than Montague's sneering one. And worst of all?

They were talking about me like I wasn't even there. The nerve.

"Um excuse me? Could I maybe suggest something?" I made sure my tone was condescending enough and both my brother and Montague gave me a look, almost as if they'd forgotten I was there and that I had a mouth and brain of my own. Again, the bloody nerve.

"Cessy." Draco said my name as if warning me to not speak.

I ignored him.

"Why don't you and I have a private session then? If it's not too big an _inconvenience_ for you? I can tryout on my own and you can judge whether I'm worthy of the team or not."

I spoke directly to Montague ignoring the sharp glares I got from both my brother and Theodore next to me.

Montague had a sickeningly pleased smile on his face as he thought more and more about this idea; he looked _too_ pleased at the idea of him and I being alone.

" _No._ " This, came from my brother.

The ferocity of his tone shook me a bit and I looked at him with eyes wide, a frown making its way to my face. Would my brother really deny me trying out for the team just because Montague and I would be by ourselves? Montague was a git and a pervert but I could handle him; I had told Draco this many times.

Still, the fact that my brother looked as though he was going to have a conniption at the idea of Montague and I being alone left ideas running through my head that made me believe that maybe I shouldn't have suggested a private session with him.

Why else would Draco react so harshly?

"And who are you to decide, Malfoy? If she wants to tryout, then that's how we're going to do it." Montague gave me a wicked grin and I snarled at him. "We'll have it after your detentions with Umbridge end, at the start of next week."

He wasn't asking; it sounded more like a demand to be honest and I _hated_ being bossed around but I knew that I been talking about trying out for the quidditch team for nearly the whole summer and I couldn't just give it up because a boy was trying to act like he knew better than I. So I held my tongue of all the cruel things I could've said to him and instead said:

"Yes, Montague. Sounds like a plan."

"Fine. And no extra company allowed. You want this to be a private session then that's exactly what it will be," He said this with his dark eyes trained on my brother.

I could feel my brother's tension rolling off of him and he was giving Montague his nastiest of glares. I nearly shuttered at the sight.

 _Do I look that scary when I glare at people?_

I desperately hoped so.

I sighed in annoyance at Montague but nodded; there was no point in arguing, it was exactly what he wanted. He smirked at me and the winked which I rolled my eyes at. Draco snarled at him as he walked away from the group of us, down the hall. I shook Theodore's arm off as he walked out of sight and I was the first to enter the common room. I threw my bag down and slumped onto the cold leather couch.

The eerie green color that always lingered in Slytherin house thanks to the location being under the Black Lake, seemed extra chilling as we settled and I wondered what my private practice with him was going to consist of. Most likely crude remarks and gross insinuations.

"He's such a _creep_!" Daphne hissed as she sat on the chair opposite of me. "I don't know how you're going to be alone with him and stay sane, Cecily."

"I'll put him in his place if need be," I said, not too bothered.

Draco seemed furious. He had sat next to me and leaned his elbows on his knees and his fists held together in front of his face, closer toward the fire. He didn't look at me as he spoke.

"You shouldn't ever be alone with him, Cessy. You especially."

"Oh c'mon, he's a git but I've handled worse," I said, hoping Draco caught on.

Father's punishments were a lot worse than some snooty boy wanting to crawl up my skirts. My mind vaguely flashed back to me begging my father to stop, pleading with him to make the voices that tormented me stop.

Voices of my grandparents; voices of my classmates, voices of the dead. All the voices telling me they were coming for me; that I was a failure; that I needed to die. It had been a curse he'd put on me on a particular bad day for him. I hadn't help his mood by sneaking into his office when he'd already been upset, either.

One of the worst memories I had of my father. One of the worst memories I'd had ever.

I shook my head of my morbid thoughts and looked over at Theodore who had been quiet during this whole debacle. He looked almost distraught at the idea of a private practice.

"What do you mean, me _especially_ …?" I asked, looking at all three boys in our group.

Blaise, Theodore and Draco all looked guiltily at me.

"I should've told you sooner, Cessy, I'm sorry, but-,"

"You should've told me a lot of things sooner, Draco." I snapped, narrowing my eyes at him; he picked up on the insinuation of his lies about Umbridge quite clearly.

There seemed to be a lot of secrets being kept between sibling's things year and I think I was about to have to start keeping some of my own. I didn't have to be an expert at reading people to know when Draco was hiding things from me but we had never really kept things from each other anyway; we were closer than that. But lately I was beginning to wonder about my skill; he had a lot of skeletons he'd been hiding and I hadn't had an inkling of anything at all.

"There's a rumor going 'round the school saying that Montague plans to use a love potion on you to get you to like him."

Neither my brother nor Theodore had admitted this information to me; Blaise was looking almost bored as he spoke though.

"He's going to try to _drug_ me?!" I seethed.

Everyone in our little group, Theodore, Daphne, Blaise, even Puginson and Tracey, flinched back at my tone. Draco, being the only one that was used to my voice reaching such an octave, did not.

"He's not going to get anywhere near you, Cessy, I won't-,"

"Except next week when we're alone for a _whole_ _quidditch_ _tryout_ , you git! Draco, why didn't you tell me!? Ugh, you've been a shitty twin lately, do you realize that!" I snapped at him, cutting him off in the process, and shot up from my seat.

The fury I was feeling rolled off my body and settled onto the group before me and I could tell all of them were nervous to speak.

I glared at Draco as he tried to get up and follow me but I shook my head and snarled at him which kept him in his seat. I stormed towards my dorm and alarmed Jojo as I entered when I tossed my book bag onto my bed, jostling her a bit. I earned an angry hiss from her.

"Sorry, hunny," I mumbled and scooped her up into my arms, nuzzling my face into her soft fur.

She purred at my presence and my blatant need to cuddle and she gently nuzzled me back; as part kneazle she could sense that I was upset and wanted to ease my emotions. I let her cuddle into me as I laid on my bed, thinking about everything that had happened in one short day.

I had made a new enemy in Umbridge; that much was clear. I had said the exact type of thing she was looking to punish students, and even full grown wizards, for. She was now on my case and probably would be all year and I would have to start watching my back; and perhaps start watching what I said too.

I knew, deep down, I would have an extremely difficult time with this but since I wasn't looking to get expelled from Hogwarts any time soon then I knew I'd have to start watching my sporadic mouth. I couldn't risk leaving Draco by himself with no one to fall back on. He'd have his friends yes, but who would he run to when the darker and more dangerous times starting making its head known? Who would he confide in when he started having dark thoughts? Thoughts of our family legacy? Thoughts of becoming one of…

 _Stop…he can't become one of them!_

He'd need me. I needed to stay in Hogwarts; I couldn't afford to get expelled for the sake of my brother, no matter how much of a git he was being. He couldn't leave me; he couldn't become what my father was. I wouldn't let it happen. It was my job to protect him as his sister; his family.

And the other disturbing part of this day was this; I had learned that Montague wanted to drug me.

"What am I going to do about _that_ , Jojo?" I looked at her and her big green eyes, an oddly similar color to that of a sour apple jelly bean, looked worried for me.

She nuzzled her head into my hand and mewed at me; almost telling me not to worry, that I would be okay.

But I didn't know if I would be. Montague could try and drug me any time, any day, with anything I had. He could poison my food, even jinx some of my possessions; perhaps he would even go to the length of jinxing _me_.

I wouldn't put it past him.

I was sort of worried now; I had never been threatened like this before. I had been under some sticky situations with boys but never to the extent where they wanted to _drug_ me. It seemed even more cruel than just trying to force a snog on me. Because I knew that Montague's intention was to make me believe I _wanted_ him first; that I _wanted_ to snog and shag and love him. If I didn't want him first it would shatter his twisted illusion of us belonging together and he simply couldn't have that.

It was _terrifying_.

I would certainly have to watch what I ate and drank and possibly keep my things under a locking charm.

I couldn't risk falling under the horrific possession of a love potion.

And the third and possibly the worst thing about this day: I had almost had to snog Potter.

 _Disgusting!_

It almost seemed like a dream; or nightmare rather. I had been stuck in that stupid force field for only about twenty minutes but it had seemed like forever. I could only imagine what would've happened if my spell hadn't worked.

I would've had to put my perfectly glossed and kiss free lips onto Potter's and who knows where his have been?! I could only guess that as Hogwarts' Golden Boy he'd had plenty for girls to snog. He drank in his fame and I could only imagine what he would tell the hopeless witches of the other houses to get them to crawl back to his slimy lair with him.

" _Yeah, I'm Harry Potter, I'm rich and famous; my parents died from You-Know-Who. Want to hook up?"_

What a great pick up line.

And the sickening part was that most of the poor girls probably fell for it because it _was_ Potter. If he was _anyone_ _else_ in this stupid school I'm sure they'd say no.

"It's pathetic, really," I told Jojo, whom had climbed on top of me as I laid on my back, and started kneading a spot on my stomach to lay down on. She looked at me like she agreed with me. "Wait, Jojo, what have you gotten in your fur?"

I narrowed my eyes at my cat and saw that just as last year this silly cat had white feathers stuck in her fur.

"Jojo!" I exclaimed.

She looked annoyed that I had moved her from my stomach but happy that I was playing with her fur; I'm sure to her this almost felt like a massage rather than me angrily picking white feathers out of her fur. They were a very clean white color with occasional spots of grey or black and they were exceptionally soft. Heracles' feathers were never _that_ soft.

"What is it with you and white feathers? Do you have a white feathered friend that I don't know about? Hmm?" I questioned her and she meowed, rolling onto her back to reveal _more_ feathers. I rolled my eyes at her.

She could be such a brat sometimes.

"You know talking to animals can be a sign of insanity."

I jumped at the voice that spoke and looked at the door to my dorm and frowned slightly when I saw Theodore.

He looked hesitant to come in and so he stood at the threshold; his hands in his pockets, his heels rocking back and forth as he waited for an invitation to come in. I was upset with him more due to the fact that he had not said a word to me about the Montague thing; which he had known about as it was clear as day when I'd seen his face not twenty minutes before in the common room.

I had expected him to tell me things like that with him being my friend; hell him _fancying_ me should've pushed him to tell me for it was threatening my honor, which I'm sure he secretly hoped I would give to him one day and _not_ to Montague. I had expected more loyalty.

"Nott," I said, warily, eyeing him.

He seemed offended that I had called him by his surname rather than "Theodore" which was the name I'd stuck with since First Year.

"May I come in?" His voice was soft; nonthreatening. It never was when he spoke to me.

"I guess you could; though you could just drug me and then I wouldn't care," I said.

His whole demeanor changed when I said those words. His face grew fierce and he rushed over towards my bed, sitting on it without my permission and taking my hands in his. Jojo was not happy about this. His eyes, such a deep blue, bore into mine intensely.

"I would _never_ let anyone hurt you, Cecily. Or drug you, or talk badly about you, or anything. _Especially_ that tosspot, Montague. He won't lay a finger on you, I promise."

He spoke as if he were giving me his dying breath.

I was taken aback at his ferocity and I felt my breath catch in my throat; the sensation reminded me of the silencing charm my father used on me. It almost hurt to breathe. I hated the idea that people thought I needed protecting and the fact that Theodore and Draco were always on my case about _being_ protected made me all the more angry but I couldn't find it in me to be upset with him about protecting me from this; from the threat of Montague. He was still looking into my eyes when a thought occurred to me and I asked him quietly:

"What about our practice?"

"We have your practice covered, don't you worry," He said and a small devious smirk that could only belong to a Slytherin made its way across his face.

It made him seem older than he was.

"Who is " _we_ "?" I asked sharply.

Of course I already knew the answer though; my brother would never just leave me to protect myself and of course Nott would want to help.

 _Stupid boys._

I wasn't going to lie to myself and say the idea of being alone with Montague knowing that he wanted to poison me with a love potion wasn't a scary thought but I wasn't eleven years old anymore and these boys were only half as good as I was at wand work and spells. I was offended they had so little faith in me.

"Just don't worry about your tryout, Cessy. You'll do great, I'm positive you'll make the team." Theodore smiled at me, a regular smile that I was used to; one that lit up his boyish face and had his eyes crinkling near his temples.

"You and my brother are foolish, I hope you know that," I said, rolling my eyes at him.

I took my hands back from him and continued taking the stupid feathers from my cat's fur.

She seemed much happier with my hands on her rather than in Theodore's.

"We are; but you're worth it."

At this, to my utter surprise, I felt a blush creep its way to my pale cheeks. I knew the rosy color would surprise and possibly intrigue Theodore so I hid my face behind my hair, pretending his comment hadn't affected me.

"Will you come down to dinner with me?" He asked, getting off of my bed.

"In a bit…" I said, not looking at him still. "I just want some time with Jojo." I lied.

"Okay, see you down there then," He said and started to exit. "Oh, and Cessy?"

"Hmm?" I continued to look at Jojo.

"Your brother is just trying to protect you; try not to be so mean, will you? You should apologize to him."

I didn't have time to answer him as he left, but it left me with a shot of guilt that ripped up my spine as I thought of how harshly I'd spoken to my brother. I rolled my eyes.

I simply _hated_ when Theodore was right.

* * *

"I'm so pleased you could both make it."

 _Like we had any other choice you toad!_

I swear I heard Potter snort but it was covered by Umbridge's slight cough. The two of us, after having shared a few nasty words, were stood in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with her and she was smiling brightly at us.

"If you would follow me, please," She said, her voice tinkling like wind chimes.

I snarled at her as she turned around to walk up the stairs to her office and looked at the Golden Boy. He had a similar expression on his face and we shared a look that said only one thing:

 _Kill us now._

Potter gestured for me to follow her up the stairs first and I did so, hoping that some magical force would trip her and possibly have her break her neck or impale her slightly.

No such feat happened though as we entered her office. When we entered I swore I was going to have a conniption.

Everything was pink. And there were… _so many cats._

"The bloody hell is this place?" I mumbled, though she didn't hear me; Potter caught it and snickered.

I looked horridly at the office before us and wondered how on earth it could've changed so drastically.

Last year it had been a little cluttered and not very clean thanks to the polyjuiced Barty Crouch. Had it really only been a few months since he'd inhabited this office? It was a scary thought. In Third Year, Lupin had kept it clean with lots of books and it had always smelt of cinnamon. He was a personal favorite teacher of mine; much to Snape's dismay. Second Year, Lockhart, the bloody fool, had had one too many portraits of himself in the office. And First Year I had not had the privilege of seeing the office due to Professor Quirrell's timid nature.

But even if I hadn't seen it I would've bet my father's money that it had never smelt like it did now; like tea and ginger and evil. I would bet it hadn't had cats draping the walls and staring at me so intensely I felt chills grow on my arms. And I would bet it _certainly_ wasn't ever painted _pink_.

She was a nightmare come to life.

"Hmm, they're usually more friendly, sorry dears," Umbridge said but I hadn't the slightest clue of what or who she was talking about.

I glanced at Potter with a raised eyebrow and he looked towards the walls with the cats. I almost let my mouth fall open in disbelief. I believed she was evil, yes, but was it possible she could be an _evil cat lady_?

Apparently she was because she started cooing at a particularly fluffy white one that was closest to her desk. The rest of the creepy cats' fur all started to puff in a way that I'd seen Jojo's do when she felt threatened or didn't like someone or something. Umbridge must've tipped off her feline's that Potty and I were bad news.

"You're going to be doing some lines for me today-," She turned around to look at the two of us and smiled, her pink cheeks puffing out as she did so. In her hands she held two quills the color of gold with a black feather. "-One hour. The line is simply: I must not tell lies."

I felt my temperature spike with anger as she said this. Of course she would try to brainwash us into believing that we were lying. The Dark Lord was surely murdering and torturing people for information about Potter as we spoke now, but she wants us to do bloody _lines_.

"Oh, actually I have my own quill, Professor-," I said but she shook her head.

"You'll be using mine today. They're special, you see."

"Special?" Potter asked.

"You'll see," She said and handed one to me and one to him.

As soon as I held it in my hand I had a bad feeling. Of course there was some sort of malicious motive as to why she would want us using a quill given by her specifically; I didn't know what the motive was though and that was what had my pulse racing at the moment.

She was a teacher surely she couldn't actually hurt us, could she? Dumbledore wouldn't let her get away with something like that, right?

She brought us over to two individual desks that she had facing the only wall in the office that did not have plates with cats on them. Instead it was the window that overlooked the back of the Forbidden Forest. We were much higher up though so the thick green trees looked like tiny specs from up here.

I sat down at one of the desks, scowling at the pink parchment she handed the both of us and gave Potter one last glance before I started writing.

 _ **I must not tell lies**_

It seemed like a silly detention. I had expected much worse from someone like her. Her whole demeanor screamed " _evil_ " to me, and I was positive that there was going to be a catch. Any minute now Potter or I would fall dead thanks to a poison, or a spell she'd put on us.

About ten minutes had gone by when I started to feel an ache in my left hand; the one I wasn't writing with. I stretched my knuckles a bit and continued writing but otherwise wasn't too bothered by it. I continued with my lines, wondering just what Umbridge was up to. I glanced back at her for a moment and saw that she was daintily sipping on her tea and glancing at the clock above the entrance to her office. I narrowed my eyes at her; I was still very suspicious.

 _What is she up to?_

It was when I heard Potter's intake of breath, almost like he was in pain, that I started to really feel a sharp jolt in my hand. I looked over at him and, to my horror, saw he had multiple red cuts appearing seemingly from nowhere on his hand. He looked over at me and we both looked down at my own hand. Trying my best to ignore the stinging pain I saw that my own hand had identical cuts. Apparently we had been writing with cursed quills because to my slight fascination and slight outrage I saw that the cuts on my hand were forming letters; one's that spelt: " _I must not tell lies_ ".

Potter looked at me with wide acidic green eyes; disbelieving eyes.

He-like me-had figured that this was Umbridge's doing and-also like me-he couldn't quite believe it.

"Something to say, dears?"

Her voice was like nails on a chalk board to my ears and my cheeks flamed from the rage I felt. She spoke nonchalantly as she came over to us and looked at both of her hands. Her delighted smile nearly had me out of my seat on the spot and strangling her with my bare hands.

It was that smile that made my decision for me; I would tear her apart when I got the chance.

I was going to send made Umbridge _pay_. She was going to die a slow and painful death and I would have the satisfaction of knowing I was the cause of it. If she was so willing to physically abuse her students then surely I would show her the same kindness someday.

My hand-ironically the hand she had healed yesterday-now burned with the bloody phrase " _I must not tell lies_ " on it and I nearly wept it hurt so bad but there was no way I was going to show this toad any type of weakness. That would be exactly what she wanted.

"No-," Potter spoke and I was grateful for it. I wasn't sure my voice would work at the moment. "Nothing, Professor."

His voice was low and dangerous; something I'd heard only a few times when Draco had antagonized him far enough. The look he was giving her matched one I would've given had I not been so shocked. With Potter and I being at odds with Umbridge so early into the year it meant that we would be feeling and dealing with the same things. She clearly was not my favorite person and Potter's expression relayed the same message and I couldn't help but find a slight humor in it. I nearly laughed to myself.

He was right; we _were_ on the same side.

Not that I was ever going to admit that to him. I _did_ have a reputation to uphold. However maybe, just maybe, when Potter and I had to deal with Umbridge, we could have a temporary truce. It was too tiring being on the defense with two people; if Potter and I teamed up against Umbridge when we were faced with things such as detention with evil quills, then maybe I wouldn't say such nasty things to him anymore.

But only when we were dealing with Umbridge; if I saw the bloke in the halls of course I was going to tease and mock him. What else would I do?

"Yes, good Mister Potter," She said. "Because deep down you know you _deserve_ to be punished."

Neither of us spoke another word. The hour was not up however so we had to continue to write.

" _I must not tell lies" It seems I have a new catch phrase…_

All I could think about as the letters reappeared darker and thicker on my hand as I continued to write was how badly I wanted to tell Professor Snape. He of all people loved to punish people but he never would've done something like this. If he saw my hand right now I'm sure he would've thrown a fit.

I couldn't possibly tell him though; not if I didn't want to draw more attention to myself from Umbridge.

Because I knew now that I was going to have to be a lot less outspoken with her; it was the only way I would stay in school and help Draco. I couldn't afford to get kicked out with my mouth running about the Dark Lord constantly. I would have to be stealthier about it; quieter about it perhaps.

Maybe I could form an anti-Umbridge club.

I looked over at Potter as both of our hands continued to bleed with our words and he looked back at me at the same time. Our shared look was the same as the one that we exchanged when we first entered the classroom.

 _Kill us now._

* * *

"Hey."

By the look I received after speaking I would've assumed he was upset with me but despite having some tiffs to work out my brother still looked relieved to see me. He had been reading in his room and Theodore had told me he was alone in the dorm so I'd taken the liberty to enter and try and apologize to him.

After my horrid detention with Umbridge Potter and I had gone separate ways without saying anything. I think it went as an unspoken agreement that we would be keeping Umbridge's less than acceptable detention tactics to ourselves but with Potter having probably just as hard a time keeping his mouth shut as I did I could only assume the school would be buzzing about it tomorrow at breakfast. At least the Gryffindor's would be; with their Golden Boy now maimed by the devil they would probably start an uprising.

"Hey, Cessy." My brother spoke softly to me and his eyes, a melted grey color of the clouds before a storm and not showing any disdain, looked worriedly at me.

It seemed we both feared that we were upset with one another.

"You shouldn't have kept things from me, Draco-," I said, "Especially things about Umbridge. I would've-,"

"Would've what? Kept your mouth shut? We both know that's not possible for you, little sister." Draco smirked at me but there was a seriousness behind his voice that I didn't ignore.

"She's dangerous," I said. "The Ministry infiltrating Hogwarts isn't _good_ , brother, no matter what father said to you about special treatment," I spat at him, my anger rising slowly but surely.

I was hopeless; how was I ever going to keep my mouth shut to Umbridge when I couldn't even do it with my brother?

He closed his eyes and set his book down, shaking his head. His blonde hair flopped onto his forehead; I was surprised he'd let it down.

"You have to stop talking like that. That kind of talk is going to get you in trouble. And father said nothing of special treatment only that Slytherin house was going to be favored by one of the new teachers this year."

"Snape _already_ favors us! Why do you need the approval of _every_ adult you meet, Draco? Umbridge is the _last_ person I would want approval from."

I sat on his bed and looked at him concernedly; he needed to stop being so concerned with what people thought of him.

Seeker, Slytherin, Malfoy, brother, son; he was always letting people title him.

My brother, though he would never admit this-mainly because he hasn't admitted it to _himself_ -was too damn sensitive about everything.

"You don't understand, Cessy, it's not that. I'm not seeking _approval_ from anyone; I'm trying to keep us under the radar for Salazar's sake! You make things _so_ difficult though it's like you _want_ to get in trouble; just let me keep us out of the spotlight please," He was practically begging me.

He'd taken my hands in his and his eyes were fierce; a storm raging in them. I looked back at him with what I could feel was the same expression.

"I can take care of myself, Raco-," He glared at me at the use of the name I used to call him when I couldn't pronounce my "D's" when I was very little. I only used it now when I was being very, _very_ serious with him. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

"And how many times do you end up getting yourself in trouble when you "take care of yourself"? Hmm? Let me do my job as your brother, Cessy-as your family," He said with a glare.

I chuckled slightly and shook my head.

"For twins that aren't that similar we sure do think alike," I mumbled.

We were both just trying to protect one another. That's what it came down to; we both hated being the one that needed protecting though and that was our downfall.

"Did you save any dessert for me from dinner?" I tried changing the subject, seeing as we were both already in sullen moods, and I had expected him to maybe roll his eyes, or perhaps even say yes, he _had_ gotten me dessert-which would've been delightful- but his eyes were trained on my hand. My left hand.

That I had foolishly _not_ disillusioned before coming to see him.

 _Salazar's shit!_

"What is this, Cecily?" Draco spoke in his low dangerous voice. He turned my hand over in his gently and I sighed, not even fighting to hide my hand; there was no point, he'd already seen it.

The blood had dried and darkened on my hand and the letters were thick and aching; I wanted to heal it but I wasn't sure if a cursed quill wound would heal so easily with a quick _Episky_.

 _ **I must not tell lies**_

"I told you Umbridge is dangerous."

" _Umbridge_ did this?!"

He shot up off of his bed and ran a hand over his face, mussing up his hair further. He paced back and forth while he demanded to know what happened.

"When Potter and I went to detention she said she wanted us to do lines; she gave us her own _special_ quills though."

I snarled at the memory and looked to my twin. He was furiously shaking his head and the heat from his anger was spilling off of him. I could feel his tension from where I was across the room.

"And the line ended up on your hand? She made you use a cursed quill?"

"Yes."

"We need to report this to Snape," He said and reached for me as if we were to get up and go tell him immediately.

"Draco there is no _we_ -," I said and pulled against him as he tried to get me off of his bed. "I won't report it and neither will you if you value your life at all!" I threatened and he rolled his eyes; he'd heard that many times before.

"Cessy this is serious; she _hurt_ you! Potter too, though the bloody tosser deserves it. You're both students and she's a teacher; it is very much _against_ school rules for a teacher to abuse a student _at all_ much less with a cursed object." He was trying to reason with me but-as usual-I wasn't having it.

He had stopped tugging on my hand though so maybe he wasn't willing to fight over this as much as I thought he would.

"And what do you think is going to happen if we tell on her? You want to keep us under the radar so bad but this will put us in the spotlight _so fast_ , brother, we won't even be able to blink before the reporter's start showing up! We already had enough of that this summer with father's loyalties being questioned thanks to Potty, do you really want our school year to turn into that hell?!"

He let go of my hand and his face pinched as he took in my words. He knew my argument was better than his but I could tell he was still furious with the idea of a teacher hurting me. Hell, _I_ was still furious. But he knew, just like I did, that if we brought this to Professor Snape's attention things would get blown to hell and the _Daily Prophet_ didn't tread lightly when it came to my family.

Potter was seen as a menace in the face of the paper right now but there were articles circling my family that I couldn't risk getting above the whispers of a rumor; no matter how much I hated it. My father had a secret that needed to be kept and as his children we were sworn to it. I wanted nothing to do with it, I didn't even want to have to think about it; but I _had_ to keep it a secret.

"Don't think I'm going to forget this argument so quickly, little sister."

"I wouldn't dream of it, big brother," I said, glaring at him as he glared at me.

He sighed, defeated for the moment, and came to sit back on his bed. He retrieved his book that had been shoved when he'd gotten up so hastily and groaned that he'd lost his place.

"I'll be going to bed. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Cessy," He said, grabbing my hand once more; with a look of disgust and an agitated shaky breath he let me go.

I walked out of his dorm and ignored Theodore's worried look as I walked by him saying a quiet goodnight. He looked a bit offended I hadn't stopped to speak with him but I wasn't in the mood right now. I wanted to tell Theodore a lot of things but telling him what my brother had found out was not on the list.

When I made it to my bed, Jojo curled up on my pillow, I heard Daphne clear her throat. She was stting on her bed beside mine and looking at me nervously while biting her lip.

I could only imagine what she wanted to speak to me about right before I went to bed. Did she have to have such bad timing?

"Something got your tongue, Greengrass?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

Her cheeks reddened when I addressed her and she made a curtain of her hair fall around her face so that she didn't look so startled.

"I just…" She paused. The other girls in our shared dorm were looking wearily at us. It was pretty well known that Daphne had tried to be my friend purely for the status and that when she spoke to me I wasn't the nicest back. I could tell they were wondering if I was going to bite her head off. I sighed.

"Go on, I'm not going to attack you for talking to me, Greengrass, I do have _some_ manners," I said lightly.

The poor girl was practically shaking.

"I'm worried about you being alone with Montague."

 _Oh._

I felt my face scowl as I took in her words and thought about why that might be. Everyone was so concerned about me being alone with him but none had sounded as concerned and terrified as Daphne had. She seemed genuinely scared of him.

"I'm flattered by your concern, Greengrass, but I don't exactly need it at the moment," I said with an exasperated sigh.

She bit her lip again and looked pathetically down at her lap; almost embarrassed that she'd spoken. I felt a twinge of guilt but made no move to apologize. Instead I turned over on my bed and turned off my lamp, ready to fall asleep.

Montague was the last thing on my mind at the moment; I was more concerned with the constant sickening ache on my left hand and the reason behind it but it almost made me wonder why exactly Greengrass was so nervous about me and him alone. I could only assume it was because he had tried to make a move on her.

It wasn't worth thinking over at the moment though.

Slowly, with the feeling of Jojo nuzzling my injured hand with her face, I felt sleep take me.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:** Hey everyone! How are you today? I hope you liked this chapter! It's been kind of slow start to the story but in the next couple of chapters things are going to pick up!_

 _We're going to learn more about those articles that the Daily Prophet has been printing about her family and why Cecily is so keen on keeping her father's secret of being a Death Eater-even though she clearly hates everything about it. Loyalty runs very strong with the Malfoy's and Cecily is no exception; even if her views are quite different from that of her pureblood family._

 _Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! And have a good day!_

 _~Alyssa~_


	5. Chapter 4: Letters & Owls & Moons, Oh My

**CHAPTER FOUR: LETTERS & OWLS & MOONS, OH MY**

* * *

"Cessy."

"I can't believe this-did you know they're trying to cover up the disappearance of those four wizards as them taking a _spontaneous holiday_? The hell kind of rubbish is that!"

"Cecily."

"I swear on Salazar, if they're going to keep covering these things up who's to say the students won't start going missing?! It's ridiculous!"

" _Cecily_. _Stop_."

"What? Oh, sorry. I just-,"

"Yeah, I know." Draco rolled his eyes at me and took the _Daily Prophet_ out of my hands. His message was clear; I would have to stop reading it.

At least in public forums.

The Great Hall was exactly the kind of place where both he and I didn't want my loud mouth running too loudly; especially with slimy pink toads lurking about at the teacher's table. My left hand, which I had charmed so that my classmates couldn't see my hideous scars, itched at the thought of her.

My fellow Slytherin's were all looking at me nervously. They all knew how frantic I could get when things like this happened and were not being addressed properly-which was almost _always_ nowadays. Had I not been who I was, I probably would've been giving me the same looks that they were giving me now. Puginson looked especially annoyed with me today although it was probably for a different reason than me shouting less than taboo things out to the world. I smirked at her.

Tracey-who I was now positive fancied my brother but was too shy to say anything about it-had clearly wanted to sit next to Draco this morning at breakfast and Parkinson had slid into the seat next to him before Tracey could.

Seeing this, and being the kind little sister I was, I had politely asked Parkinson to move her pug like nose far away from my brother so that he wasn't disturbed by her canine like features. With the seat having been opened I gestured toward Tracey and she had shyly but delightedly taken it. Also to her delight my brother had given her a small smile. He'd told me that on their patrols together Tracey was not such bad company which I'm sure would've made the girl swoon at his heels.

Draco, who was across from me and not seeming bothered by his new bench mate had not defended Puginson against my remark-he never did, I didn't know why she would look for him to do so-and when she had grown upset with him he simply shrugged.

She was now seated four seats away from him and glaring devilishly at me. I smiled at her.

 _Oh well._

Theodore, loyal as always, was sat right next to me and looking at me with his kind eyes as my brother read through the paper that I was now glaring at viciously.

"Things will work out how the need to," He said, trying to be assuring though he and I both knew he was just trying to appease me about the whole debacle.

By the look he was giving me he knew as well as I did that with how things were going in our world nothing was going to work out how it needed to.

The chaos was just beginning.

"Are you going to talk to Snape today, Cessy?" Draco asked me from across the table.

His eyes hardened at the mention of Snape and I knew it was because of our endless argument; he still wanted me to tell him about Umbridge's nasty quills. It had only a few days since it happened and every night since then I had gone to detention with Potter and the exact same detention was given to us. We used those wretched quills and our hands would slice open over and over again until the hour was up.

I wasn't sure what Potter's hand looked like but if it looked like anything like mine did-almost a raw violet color where the letters were scribed with a constant throbbing-then I was sure he was in just as much as pain as I was. I wondered vaguely if he had told his friends.

Potter and I hadn't spoken much since our first night with Umbridge but I didn't have to be a mind reader to see that his hatred for her burned as harshly as mine did.

We were both owed justice when it came to her.

I narrowed my eyes at my brother, hoping mine were just as solid as his.

"Yes, I am," I said, though my glare told him what he didn't want to hear.

Yes, I was going to speak with Snape today but it wasn't going to be about the quills, nor my detentions with Potter, or anything involving Umbridge's medieval methods of punishment.

I was just going to ask him about the essay that he had given us due this coming Monday on the properties of Moonstone. I was also planning on asking him about what _he_ thought about all of the _Daily Prophet_ nonsense. Surely someone as smart as Severus Snape could see past the Ministry's lies and deceitfulness.

Draco didn't need to know that last part though; I could picture all too clearly his furious expression if he knew I was going to the dungeons to gossip with Snape about our more than corrupt society.

"Ask him how long the essay he wants us to write is supposed to be," Theodore said.

He had clearly seen the rising tension between my brother and me and with him being a good friend to the both of us I could tell he was trying to ease it.

"I will," I said to him, giving him a cheeky smile and ignoring my brothers disapproving face.

Whether he was disapproving of me ignoring his advice about reporting Umbridge or disapproving of me smiling at Theodore like I did, I didn't know.

"Before you do that will you bring this to the Owlery?" Draco reached into the pocket of his perfectly tailored black suit and handed me a rather thick letter.

It was addressed simply to " _Mother_ ". I raised an eyebrow at him but he ignored my questioning stare and impatiently waved the letter in front of my face so I would take it.

I didn't ask him right then why he would be sending a letter to our mother so early in the school year-usually we both waited until at least Halloween-but I did give him a hard stare to show him that I wanted to know why eventually. I took it in my hands; it was pretty heavy.

It seemed he'd been writing it for a while; maybe it was the letter he had started in the summer?

 _But then why wouldn't he have given it to mother before we left for school? Seems a bit silly._

"Of course I will," I said to him finally and he seemed to relax his intense demeanor.

No one else at the table seemed to notice his anxiety creeping through while he gave me the letter. But being his twin and knowing all his of tells-which went with him knowing mine, regrettably-I knew that he had taken a deep sigh of relief when I had taken it.

 _It must be a very important letter…_

I thought grudgingly. Whatever it was that he had to say to mother clearly wouldn't be said to me any time soon; by the way he was glaring at me while I eyed the letter I could tell he didn't want me to open it. I was slightly offended.

What could he possibly tell our mother that he couldn't tell me? I was his twin sister! Undoubtedly the most loyal person to him in all of the world and he had the need to keep so many things from me all of a sudden? It seemed he was just piling on the secrets as the school year went on.

"Want me to come with you?" Theodore asked.

I smiled at him and looked at Draco, who didn't look bothered by the idea.

 _Oh, so apparently he trusts Theodore not to open the letter but not me? Ridiculous!_

"Yeah that'll be fun-," I said. "Maybe we can catch Jojo and her white feathered friend."

"She'd hate us if we did." He laughed.

"Exactly, that makes it all the more fun."

My brother scoffed at us and shook his head. Blaise beside him as well as Crabbe and Goyle and even Tracey were all looking at us like we were crazy.

"What?" I asked, slightly annoyed with each of them.

" _Cat_ people." Was all my brother said with a harsh roll of his eyes.

His tone suggested that "cat people" as he called us, were simply nutters. And he was right, but he should've known that by now.

I chuckled and Theodore simply shrugged off his words.

* * *

At the Owlery the wind had picked up quite a bit, much to my usually flat hairs' dismay. For early September it was unseasonably cold already although the sun on the walk up here was warm on my light olive green jacket that I wore. Theodore was sporting a grey hooded jumper that looked worn from age; he looked like a young boy in it.

"Bit cold, innit?" He said, rubbing his hands together as we walked up the steps to the stone building which was surrounded by loose feathers of all colors and sizes.

Even from out here I could hear the soft cooing of the owls and some other loud squawks from them too. In the back of my mind I wondered if I might recognize Heracles' proud coo the way I recognized Jojo's meows or hisses from a mile away.

Probably not; Heracles was more my brother's animal than mine and I didn't quite pay attention to him all that often to know exactly what he sounded like surrounded by other owls.

The letter that my brother had given me was safely in my hands.

"Very." I answered Theodore.

"Wait, Cessy do you see those…?" Theodore grabbed the back of my jacket before I could take another step and pointed to the rather large foot prints that could only be a felines walking up and down the steps to the Owlery.

It had been raining for the past couple of days and it was no surprise that the earth was still wet from it and so the cat prints were damp as well. They must've been fresh too because they were still dark on the stone. As Theodore pointed to them I knew what he was thinking; maybe Jojo was here meeting with her friend.

"It could be anyone's cat, Theodore, don't go assuming things," I said.

He shrugged.

"Those are awfully big cat prints to assume it's just anyone's cat." He gave me a look with his wide blue eyes and I chuckled, nodding.

Jojo was known for her massive size and the paw prints we were looking at did look about the size of hers.

"I guess we'll find out," I said as we opened the door to the Owlery and stepped inside.

In the building the wind subsided but the cold remained; it seemed there was no heating system for the owls which made me kind of sad; what if they got cold?

The smell in the Owlery was awful. It was a mixture between unwashed feathers, bird droppings, and old hay; not the most flattering of scents. I looked around the place to see all the different owls whom were all looking back at us with big curious eyes. Some tilted their heads in wonder, some looked nervously at us and some looked unbothered by our presence. The Owlery itself was a very tall and cylindrical building and I could see all of the owls lined up all the way to the top. Heracles wasn't hard to spot; he was sitting at the top of the tower with his large black eyes staring at me.

It seemed he had recognized me-most likely by the way my white blonde hair was much easier to spot compared to Theodore's-and with a large swoop of his wings he lunged down toward Theodore and I. He softly hooed at me and I smiled at him, giving him one of the treats that my brother had told me to bring for him before we left the Great Hall.

"Hey there boy, you're looking well fed." I pet his soft feathers and he sat contently with his eyes closed as he let me stroke him.

He was a good owl; a dutiful owl and Draco loved him. I remember seeing the wide wonderous eyes my brother had when my mother and father had come home with our animals and how excited Draco was to finally have his own owl. Jojo had been a joy to have from the start and mother had told me proir to her buying Jojo that she would get her for me but Heracles had been a complete surprise to my brother. I'd never forget how happy he was that day. I sighed and looked over at Theodore. I couldn't help the smirk that spread across my face as I looked at him.

Theodore, whom had always been a bit nervous around Heracles-for he was a very proud animal and liked to bite those who offended him-had taken a step back when the owl had landed in front of us and was eyeing him with cautious eyes.

"I can't believe after all this time you're still afraid of him," I said and rolled my eyes, giving the bird another treat.

"I'm not afraid, he's just very large. What is it with you and your brother and owning unusually large animals?" He asked; his voice wavering ever so slightly. He tried to hide it by puffing up his chest in defiance. I let out a light laugh.

Before I could tell him that it was just in our blood-father loved peacocks and _they_ were very large too-I heard a loud and obnoxious meow from above us.

I could recognize it anywhere.

"Jojo! You _are_ here! Hi pretty girl!" I smiled at my cat as she saw me and rushed down to get to me.

Heracles tensed under my fingers and I rolled my eyes. The two animals hated each other; I had found my beloved cat with Heracles' feathers in her mouth countless times and each time I found her she seemed more and more smug about it. I had apologized to Draco many times seeing as Jojo was the one that always started the fights between them. I think honestly she was just taking after me; she liked to annoy Heracles just as I liked to annoy my brother.

But with a letter needing delivering I wasn't about to let these two get into a rumble; there was business to attend to. Jojo was descending quickly, excited to see me, and I quickly told Heracles where he was going.

"Take this to mother, please. It's from Draco." At my brother's name his dark eyes lit up. He loved him dearly and was a very loyal pet to him. "And I'll give you extra treats if you don't poop on Jojo on the way out too," I said and pet him again.

He gave me a look like he was debating whether or not it was worth it but finally took the letter in his mouth and flew to the top of the tower again. He paused at the window where he would exit into the sky and looked at Jojo, whom had made her way down to me. She looked up at him and hissed and-I swear it on Salazar- he looked as though he sighed in annoyance. He flew out the window and out of sight after.

"That was intense." Theodore noted and I laughed.

"Yes, it was, hey you-!" I exclaimed as I scooped my large cat into my arms. "Did you come up here to meet with your little friend, darling?" I asked.

She nuzzled her face under my chin and her whole body vibrated with her loud purring. Theodore scratched behind her ears and we both started to leave the building. We had just exited the door when someone ran right into me-earning a deathly hiss from my cat who had gotten squished between me and whoever bumped into me.

"Oh, sorry I-," He started to say.

I glared at the voice I heard and then looked up into the very green eyes of Potty the Golden Boy.

 _Ugh, I can't escape him._

"Actually, no, I'm not sorry," He said and glared at me.

I rolled my eyes and pushed past him.

"Move, Potty," I said.

"Don't tell me you let that thing you call a cat into the Owlery, Malfoy," He said, disdain in his voice as he looked at Jojo.

She wasn't as tense in my arms as she was when she was squished; instead she was looking at Potter with curiosity. I clenched my jaw with her reaction to him; just like on the train she didn't seem bothered by him at all in fact, she seemed a bit intrigued.

 _Damn cat!_

"I do, actually. She likes to chase the owls," I said and flicked my hair over my shoulder and turned to leave with Theodore on my trail.

"If she attacks my owl in any way you'll be sure to hear from me very quickly."

From behind me I could hear there was a threat in his tone but I couldn't be bothered by him. In truth it was the first time I had really spoken to Potter since the first night with Umbridge and her dreaded quills and I really didn't have anything to say to him. I almost surprised myself. Maybe I was growing soft? Or maybe I was realizing he just wasn't worth the time? Who knew.

"Piss off, Potter," Theodore said, his tone not holding as much dislike as my brother's would have as he spoke to the Boy Wonder.

Potter ignored Theodore but I could tell by his agitated and slightly surprised intake of breath that he wasn't done speaking to me.

"Are those white feathers in your cats fur, Malfoy?" Potter addressed me again and I paused on the stairs and turned around with furrowed brows and a pinched expression.

I hadn't seen any feather on Jojo's fur when she'd come to see me so I flipped her over in my arms to inspect her. Sure enough there were several snowy white feather stuck in the fur on her belly. She looked mischievously at me as I picked them from her fur with an annoyed sigh. She was still purring.

"Seems so, what's it to you, Potty?" I asked him.

His narrowed expression had softened a bit as he looked at my cat and he looked as though he was going to say something but instead he shook his head.

"Nothing. Never mind." He gave me a nod and then headed into the Owlery without another word.

"He's such a nutter," Theodore said, shaking his head. "The _Daily Prophet_ has got one thing right about him and that's that he's a sure fire crazy person. Completely bonkers."

I didn't say anything in response to him because truthfully I didn't believe Potter was crazy at all. Well-he _was_ a nutter-just not about what he'd seen last year and what he was saying about the Dark Lord. Everyone in the Wizarding World thinking him a liar was probably getting to his head and if I was being truthful I felt kind of bad.

When he'd bumped into me I could tell he was exhausted with the dark circles under his eyes and with all the hatred from his fellow students-some of whom I'd heard were even from his own so called proud and _loyal_ house-I could only guess that he was looking for some alone time. I had noticed he wasn't carrying any letter into the Owlery so he was probably just looking for a place to spend time by himself without everyone hating him. I knew if I was in his position I would've done the same thing.

 _Hell, am I making excuses for Potter?! The bloody hell is wrong with me!_

I felt a scowl making its way to my face as I thought about this; it seemed as of the last week I had been cutting Potter a very large break. I knew on the train I had made myself the promise that I wouldn't be as nasty to him as I usually was but making up excuses for him? That seemed a bit much. Almost like I didn't hate him. Which was impossible; he was my nemesis, the very bane of my existence; his presence in my life was a complete horror.

 _I mean, he usually is just as nasty to me as I am to him. This year he hasn't been so bad._

Jojo was looking up at me with her big green eyes and was giving me a look that I couldn't interpret. She almost looked disappointed. I frowned at her.

 _She wasn't upset that I had left Potter, was she?_

No, it couldn't be that. She didn't _like_ him she simply didn't _hate_ him. There was a difference.

I'd have to brainwash that out of her one of these days.

* * *

"Is she as bad as the rest of the students have been saying she is?"

I groaned and sat back in my chair as I looked at my Potions professor. After leaving Theodore with my brother and his friends I had gone to Snape's office. He had been sitting at his desk with an annoyed expression on his face as he went through the homework of some Third Year Hufflepuffs. It was a pity he had to spend his weekends grading papers. His mood had noticeably lightened when I walked into the office exclaiming that I had some things I wanted to speak to him about.

"She's worse! I can't express enough how horrid she is. Honestly Professor, her methods of-," I cut myself off, coughing to cover up my abrupt pause in speaking.

Snape looked sincerely interested in what I was saying-he always valued my word over anyone else's-and he looked curiously at me as I stopped mid-sentence.

I couldn't believe myself; I had almost just told him about my detention with her. I almost just let slip that her methods of _punishment_ -as I so foolishly was about to say-were completely barbaric and needed to be brought to a teacher's attention. I simply couldn't believe it.

 _All this talk and argument with Draco about not telling Snape about my injured hand and my bloody mouth almost lets the secret out just like that?! Ugh! Am I really that moronic?_

"Methods of...-?" He prompted, waiting for me to finish my sentence.

His tone suggested he knew I was about to lie and didn't approve of it but there really was no turning back. He knew me well enough to know that if I was going to keep something from him it must've been for a good reason. Of course, if he knew that the secret I was keeping was affecting my well-being and safety he would probably curse me for lying. Years of being our mentor had given him a strong protective instinct when it came to my brother and me. But oh well.

If he wanted to know the truth he'd have to use _Legilimens_ on me. And knowing him I knew he would never do such a thing without my permission.

"Teaching," I said.

He gave me a look that clearly said " _you could've done better than that_ ". But since I had already said it I had to stick to it.

Besides, her teaching methods were horrid too so technically it wasn't even a lie.

"Oh?" He waited for me to elaborate.

"She's wretched, truly! She's making us simply _read_ about spells instead of practice them. She hasn't let us use magic at all! How am I supposed to excel at my wand work when I can't even use my bloody wand?" I complained.

It was true; each Defense Against the Dark Arts class she had made us read chapter after chapter and not once since the first day had anyone said anything to her about us practicing the spells.

My poor wand-all thirteen beautiful inches of it with its ebony wood and its strong dragon heartstring core that barely got to be useful to me in that silly class with her silly rule-was starting to grow warm in my hand whenever it needed some stretching and I was concerned it might start casting spells all on its own.

But despite my wand growing impatient with my lack of magic in Defense, and despite none of the other students bringing up being able to use their wands in that class either, I still caught the angry and frustrated way my classmates looked at her while they were supposed to be reading.

"So because she's not letting you use your magic you're feeling oppressed and have the need to whine like a small child?" He asked.

I glared at him.

"No, I did not come here to complain about Umbridge-,"

"Professor."

 _Ugh_. _You want me to play nice? Fine, I will. But not willingly!_

" _No_ -," I said a bit harshly. He had a small smirk on his face; most likely at my annoyance that he never once let me address a teacher without adding " _Professor_ ". "I did not come here to complain about _Professor_ Umbridge…I came here because I wanted to know where you stood with all the nonsense the _Daily Prophet_ has been printing."

I huffed a sigh at his arrogant looking face and he looked at me with a guarded expression, his smirk no longer present. His dark eyes gave nothing away of his thoughts, as they usually didn't.

"Why do you ask?" He asked me.

I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes. He of all people knew why I would be asking such questions.

"Because, Professor, I don't have many allies where my opinions are concerned on the subject," I said and tried my hardest to hide the irritation in my voice at my notion.

No one in my house would readily admit that they believed Potter was telling the truth-even if some knew for a _fact_ he wasn't lying-unless they wanted a flogging from Umbridge or public humiliation from the Ministry itself. No one in Slytherin was brave enough-or rather _stupid_ enough-to voice their opinions on whether Potter was telling the truth besides myself. No one else was looking for a social suicide like me. Something my brother was trying his hardest to prevent.

"Miss Malfoy I'm afraid there are some things that I would rather not discuss with students; the opinions on such trivial things such as the gossip that spreads through the _Daily Prophet_ are of no concern to me. Nor should they be to you." Professor Snape's voice was clear and precise as it always was and I let his words run through my mind. Snape liked to have double meanings behind a lot of the things he said in order to hide something important; usually it was his "devil may care" attitude that he hid with his riddles.

I could only assume that by his tone of " _gossip_ " when referencing the _Daily Prophet_ that he believed Potter was telling the truth. Dumbledore knew the truth and after all, Snape was a trusted advisor to Dumbledore and he wouldn't go against the Headmaster's word.

I knew how much Snape trusted Dumbledore; there's no way he'd believe anything else if Dumbledore was saying that the Dark Lord had returned.

"Very well then Professor-," I sighed and scratched my wrist. "If there's nothing else to discuss I supposed I'll be going."

I got up from my seat and gathered my things before he spoke again.

"Have you been doing that a lot, Miss Malfoy?" He asked.

I paused as I began pushing in my chair and looked at my professor with a raised eyebrow. What could he possibly be talking about now?

"Sir?"

"Scratching your birth mark." He clarified and looked to my left wrist where my crescent moon birth mark-an exact match to my brothers-lay imprinted on my skin.

The color seemed to have darken from the last time I'd looked at it-much to my confusion and surprise-and I furrowed my brow before looking back at Snape.

"Uh-," I paused, not knowing if I should answer him truthfully. What if it was a bad sign? What if it meant my brother and I were in danger? I quickly decided I shouldn't keep this to myself should it be at all life threatening. Surely Draco would blame me if we ended up dead and all I'd had to do to prevent it from happening was to tell our Potions professor.

"Truthfully, yes."

I watched Snape's eyes narrow ever so slightly before he beckoned for me to meet him in front of his desk. As I stepped up the wooden platform and eyed him warily he reached for my wrist in his rough hands and I bit my lip as he examined it; worried he might say something terrible about it.

A large part of me feared he would see something horrible about my birth mark and tell me I needed to be admitted to St. Mungo's Hospital wing immediately. Another part of me was terrified that he might somehow see through my disillusionment charm and see the raggedly cut letters on the top of my hand and demand to know what happened.

As he gripped it I had to bit my tongue from hissing in pain. He didn't seem to see through my charm though-which I was very grateful for-and instead continued to look upon my strange birth mark.

I hadn't really noticed that I'd been itching it all that often but as I thought about it I realized it had become more and more of an itch since the summer holiday. I knew that when Draco and I dueled in practice both of our birth marks would sting horribly and I remember the research I had done over the summer but I hadn't really thought about it much.

It didn't seem at all life threatening so I didn't think it was important to look into. Draco had not been that bothered by it either and if he wasn't concerned then I certainly wasn't going to be. It simply wasn't important enough to stress over.

But perhaps I was wrong? Snape's guarded expression did nothing to answer my burning question.

"Is something wrong, Professor?" I asked, cursing myself for letting my voice sound slight and girly.

He would take this as a sign of me being frightened and in truth I never wanted to _show_ fear in general much less so in front of Snape. He'd always taught me that fear was a weapon to those who wanted to hurt you and I tried my best to abide by his logic by making people believe I was fearless.

I could hardly be called _fearless_ if I was afraid of a moon shaped birth mark.

"Not hardly," He answered; his tone bored. He kept flipping my wrist in his hands-much to my dismay seeing as my hand was still extremely tender and if I gave any indication that I was injured I'd blow my cover-and ran his thumb of my birth mark softly.

He raised it to his eye level and glanced to me briefly before he shook his head slightly.

"Nothing to worry about," He said.

I took my wrist back shortly after he let it go and I pulled the sleeve of my shirt over it. I suddenly felt very cautious about the peculiar little mark and I didn't want anyone seeing it which was an odd notion; I had never once felt the need to hide it but his sudden concern over it made me feel as though it was a secret that needed to be hidden. Which was ridiculous considering he'd just said I needn't worry about it.

His tone when he'd said I had nothing to worry about _did_ worry me though. I knew him well enough to know that his less than expressive tone was one that he used to maintain control over his emotions. For all I knew, he could've been panicking on the inside about my marking.

But instead he was the face of calm. He was _too_ calm, _too_ collected; a sign that made me know he wasn't as innocent as his voice led some people to believe. That could've meant only one thing: He knew something I didn't.

I _hated_ when he had more information on something he knew I'd want to know all about.

It was completely unfair.

But I knew there wasn't going to be any way to get him to let me know what he was thinking quite yet. He usually came to me with anything he believed I should know and it seemed he wasn't going to share anything with me now as his stoic face said nothing else.

"Then I won't worry about it," I said and nodded my head to him once.

"Anything else you'd like to discuss?" He asked; he'd looked down at the papers in front of him and continued to grade them. I took this as his sign that even if I did want to discuss anything further that he wouldn't give me the answers I wanted.

"No, nothing." I shook my head, my thick blonde hair falling in my face in the process. I hastily brushed it aside and kept my expression perfectly neutral as he regarded me with an almost sympathetic look.

"Very well, I will see you in class on Monday with that report then," He said in his nasally voice and I nodded, rolling my eyes at him. If he honestly thought I wasn't going to hand in my work he was sorely mistaken; I may be shit at Potions but I always did my homework.

"Oh, of course Professor," I muttered and headed out of the office without another glance at him.

I shut the heavy door softly and sighed to myself, pondering the new information I have just received-or lack thereof. It wasn't like I had learnt anything valuable in fact, I hadn't learnt _anything_ at all; just that my birth mark itched sometimes and apparently it wasn't normal. I had a rather large urge to look at my birth mark again just to assess how different it was from the last time I'd looked at it. Last I'd seen, it was a light pink-barely even noticeable on my pale skin-but I knew it was too public a space to do so for someone inevitably would come asking questions if the saw me staring at it.

Besides; I'd want to see if Draco's had changed as well and if it _had_ then maybe I would do some more digging to find out what it did or didn't mean. Hell, maybe I would Owl mother early as Draco had done, and inquire about the situation. She always did tend to clam up when I asked about our shared birth mark-maybe she would know something about this.

I walked back toward the common room as it wasn't so long of a walk with Snape's office already being in the dungeons. There were a few young Slytherin's roaming the halls with books glued to their noses; some Ravenclaw's following them daintily as Slytherin's and Ravenclaw's tended to make good friends. The dungeons were cold, and they smelt like murky water no doubt from being unbearably close to the Black Lake. I was surprised the Slytherin common room didn't smell like that foul scent more often considering it was under the Black Lake instead of just near it.

I suppose the professors must've charmed it to have a more pleasant scent of mint and fire as it usually always did. Lost in my thoughts of pointless banter I almost didn't hear my name get called.

"Oi! Malfoy!"

I stiffened when I recognized the tone. It almost made me not want to turn around but I did so grudgingly with a less than pleased look on my face; I could tell the scowl that spread across my face held extra disdain for the fellow approaching Slytherin.

I looked into the dark eyes of Graham Montague and snarled at his pleasant expression as he took notice that I was alone. I could understand it; it was extremely rare that I wasn't surrounded by my brother and his friends or Theodore either. He had caught me alone and that was not good; I could tell just by seeing the dark glint in his eye.

"To what do I owe the displeasure, Montague?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest defiantly as he continued to stride toward me with the utmost arrogance. I rolled my eyes at him.

If there was one person in Hogwarts that believed he was the man to be feared by all it was Montague; and if there was one person in Hogwarts I _wasn't_ afraid of it was Montague, even if he _did_ plan to drug me to get me to like him.

I was repulsed by his sick mind, not scared of him; there's certainly a difference.

His bright shiny smile and evil mischievous eyes did not change this opinion but it did make me more cautious.

"Just wondering if you're excited about our lesson in a couple of days. I know I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure you'll do amazing things on the field."

He walked up to me and got entirely too close for my liking; I could smell his breath from where he stood. Surprisingly minty.

I took a step back with an angry glare shot at him. He was unbothered by this.

I hadn't forgotten our lesson was on the upcoming Monday but I had put off thinking about it for my mind was far too rattled with Umbridge and her horrendous detentions. I hadn't even tried to think about what Theodore had said about my practice with Montague being "taken care of" by both him and my brother.

Usually I took more care in unraveling my brother's schemes but it seemed my busy mind hadn't been up to it this past week; I could hardly blame it, nor could my throbbing left hand.

"Ah yes, I'm looking forward to it. I love the game," I said, trying to seem disinterested in him and more interested in the game of quidditch itself.

In the past he seemed to relax noticeably on his need for my undying love if I talked about quidditch and I could only hope this was the case in the current moment.

"Good, we need enthusiastic players. We can't afford to lose to that tosspot Potter again this year. I won't tolerate a loss to him again." His lip curled unattractively as he mentioned Potter and I couldn't help but recall just how many times the young Potter had bested Montague, and the whole of Slytherin team, on the quidditch pitch.

It had to be dozens of times by now especially considering Potter was put on the team his first year; a feat that nearly never happened.

"He most certainly won't win with my addition to the team," I said earnestly.

Even if I had given a slight respite to Potter during our time with Umbridge I had _every_ intention of knocking the Golden Boy off of his fancy Firebolt when we matched this season. That is if I even got the spot on the team.

Montague had a devilishly handsome and evil smile spread across his face as he imagined what I could only picture as me shoving Potter to his sure death as he fell hundreds of feet from the air; much like he had in Third Year when the dementors had swarmed the beloved castle. I'm sure Montague thought it a pity that Potter had survived that fall and would like nothing more than for me to ensure that debt to death was repaid in full with me on the team. I almost wanted to laugh at how maniacal that was but with the idea coming from Montague I felt an involuntary shutter run through my body instead.

"I've got some special runs for us to go through on Monday so be sure to show me _everything_ you've got," He said, his eyes roaming from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes.

He had given my body enough attention over the past couple of years to know exactly what he was looking at and yet it still made me cringe each time he imagined what was under my clothes. He couldn't have been thinking about doing very nice things about what was underneath due to his disgusting grin he gave me. His eyes darkened as his imagination ran rampant with what was most likely nude images of me and him together; doing unspeakable things to each other while having me under the poison of a love potion. I shuttered again.

"Right, I will." I hoped my words didn't let any more disturbing images run through his head.

"Right, well-," His eyes suddenly flashed behind me and a hard glare replaced his previous look of lust. "Practice starts at six o'clock. Don't be late."

And then suddenly he turned around and started walking away without even letting me tell him I wouldn't be late. I narrowed my eyes at his retreating figure and skeptically looked behind me.

 _Ah. Big brother._

Draco had clearly seen Montague and I alone had decided that his brotherly duty of the day was to relieve me of my torture. His angry grey eyes were hard on Montague's back as he walked confidently toward me. I gave him a smile of thanks as he reached me and he put his arm behind my back to lead me away from where Montague had just turned the corner.

"Dear brother, how sweet of you to rescue me in my time of need," I smiled at him and pinched his cheek.

He did not seem at all humorous, however.

"I don't want you around him, Cessy," He said, his voice hard and low.

I felt my smile fade from my face and I rolled my eyes at him.

We walked in silence back toward the common room and when we entered I saw my brother's usual posse all crowded around the fire; some with book open, others just talking. Theodore looked happy that I had arrived and I sat over by him, ignoring my brother's hard stare.

He'd been giving me that look a lot when it came to Theodore and I fully intended to ignore it until necessary.

"Have a good chat with Snape?" Theodore asked.

I sighed and thought about my confusing meeting with my mentor. It hadn't been a very insightful visit with him but had left me with more questions than I'd hoped. He had left me anxiously wondering about what could possibly be going on with my birth mark. However, at least I had found out he was on my side where the Ministry was concerned. I had the urge to scratch my birth mark at the thought of it but kept my hands still. I eyed Draco as he sat down next to Blaise. I could tell he was listening. I answered Theodore honestly with an exaggerated sigh.

"I wouldn't call it good, but sure."

My brother's brows furrowed as he listened to my reply and I gave him a look that could only be taken as a sign of " _we need to talk_ ". There was no way I wasn't going to tell him about the concerning look Snape had given me when he'd seen that I'd scratched my birth mark; plus I wanted to ask if his had been acting the same as mine.

"Did you ask how long he wants that essay?" Theodore asked.

"Shit! I forgot, I'm sorry!" I rolled my eyes at my silliness and he chuckled, shrugging.

"No big deal. I'll just ask him myself."

Before I could reply to him I heard a massive meow call to me from down the hall towards the dormitories and I chuckled; Jojo was making an entrance.

On cue my large fluffy black cat came strolling around the corner and when her green eyes landed on me she sprinted, hopping onto my lap. Her heavy body laid down instantly and I pet her smooth fur, cooing at her.

"Silly cat," Theodore said, petting her as well.

She purred very loudly.

"Any trouble sending that letter, little sister?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes at Jojo.

He most likely assumed she had been with me to deliver the letter and therefore to torment poor Heracles. He was right, though she hadn't exactly been with me, but I wasn't going to tell him that.

So I shook my head at him.

"No, no problem at all."

Jojo was looking at my brother and I could only imagine her smug face looking at him as she remembered her close encounter with the bird she loved to torture.

She was such a brat.

"You're going to get me in trouble," I whispered to her.

She looked at me and purred even more.

 _What an evil little creature._

"Isn't it your last detention with Umbridge tonight, Cecily?" Blaise asked from where he was next to my brother.

I sighed and nodded, covering my left hand seemingly nonchalantly. I still had the disillusionment charm on it but my paranoia was getting the best of me; what if they could all see it? Jojo seemed a bit upset that I had stopped petting her.

Draco noticed my action and a dark look crossed his features.

"Last one for this week, yes. Last one for the year? Most likely not," I muttered and Theodore gave me a hard look.

"Just try to keep your comments to yourself when you're around her; it might help your cause." He was looking at me earnestly, urging me to listen to his advice.

I usually did listen to Theodore but everyone in this bloody school knew how my mouth liked to run itself before I even understood what I was saying. It was a blessing and a curse.

"I've been _trying_."

"You haven't been trying hard enough," Draco said and I snarled at him; he did the same to me.

 _Oh I can feel the sibling love!_

I looked over at the large grandfather clock that stood off to the back of the common room and saw that it was just about dinner time and most of the students would be heading down to eat. I was sure I'd hear more about how if I'd just keep my mouth shut then maybe I wouldn't have detention with the ugly toad. Oh how I was so looking forward to more lectures from these people. I internally groaned at the thought.

* * *

Potter and I were already seated at our usual desks when Umbridge came up to her office.

"Good evening, children. Did you have a nice day studying?"

Her voice got more annoying the more I spent time with her and the high pitched vocals did nothing to soothe the already nauseous feeling I had in the pit of my stomach as I thought of the pain that was to come to my poor hand. I kept my fake smile small and polite as I looked at her.

"Oh yes, Professor. I'm sure Potter and I both had a very productive day."

"That's so wonderful to hear. Now-," She started and walked around her desk and sat down. "Since this is a last detention we have together I'm going to do something a little different."

"Different?" Potter questioned, the same confusion in his voice that I was thinking.

"Yes. I just want to talk. I'd like to ask a few questions, actually," She said, smiling with her bright white teeth. She took a dainty sip of her pink tea.

I tried my best not to have too much of a skeptical look on my face as I looked at her. She was clearly up to something. This had a sinister motive written all over it and my skin crawled with all the different ideas that flew through my mind at what she could possibly do with simply talking to us. I looked over at Potter and saw that he was staring at her stonily, his jaw hard and his knuckles white from clenching his fists.

"Come, sit over here. I'll pour you both a nice cup of tea to warm you both up," She said and gestured toward the front of her desk.

She reached for her shiny silver kettle with a pink bow on the lid and poured some of the steaming hot water into two tea cups which held her tea leaves. She let them sink for a bit while Potter and I moved our chairs in front of her desk.

Or rather, just Potter moved our chairs for when I tried to grab mine he simply glared at me and took both. I didn't even want to bother asking why he did that; it wasn't worth the headache that was sure to come from the answer. Once we were both seated she poured some milk into both of our cups and three full teaspoons of sugar in each cup as well. She handed them to us and I took mine with a shaky hand.

I hoped she didn't notice.

She waited patiently for us both to sip the tea; her eyebrows quirked up when we didn't right away. I looked at Potter slightly before bringing the cup to my lips, sipping it daintily like she had before. Potter's sip was more of a slurp if we were being honest but I wasn't going to comment.

I'm surprised Umbridge didn't chastise him for his poor manners.

"It's delicious, Professor, thank you," I said through gritted teeth.

Her tea was horrid, as a matter of fact. It was too sweet and way too dense; it seemed what I had thought was milk was actually cream she had put in it. There was an herbal taste to it like flowers had taken a bath in it. There was also another taste I couldn't quite place but I was positive it was what was making it taste so bad.

"Thank you deary, my own special brew." She smiled deeply at me but behind her seemingly innocent expression I could see excitement in her eyes; she was delighted that we had just drank her tea.

That couldn't possibly mean anything good for Potter and I.

"You wanted to ask us some questions, Professor?" Potter asked, getting to the point.

My pulse was racing suddenly; I could hear my heart thumping loudly in my ears and felt the blood pumping extremely fast through my body. If Umbridge was happy that we had drank her tea it must've meant that she'd slipped something into it. She must've put some sort of potion into it while Potter and I weren't paying attention.

 _But she couldn't have, I was watching her the whole time!_

But I hadn't seen where she'd gotten her tea leaves from; they had already been ready to be brewed before Potter and I even got here. I had seen them in their tea cups before she had even come into the office.

 _She must've poisoned them before we got here._

At this revelation I nearly felt my heart drop in horror.

 _She can't do this! She's a teacher!_

But no matter how much my mind was protesting that she _couldn't_ it still didn't diminish the fact that she _did_. She couldn't poison students, no but she did anyway and somewhere in the back of my mind behind that fact that I was panicking was a voice saying that _this_ was why I was so against the Ministry. They did everything and anything they could to get what they wanted no matter the casualties.

Now it was only a matter of time to figure out what poison she had given us.

Surely nothing that would kill; she wasn't smart no, but she wasn't exactly stupid enough to kill us either.

I looked at Potter with an expression of pure fear, something I'd never been known to show-especially to _him_ -and to my slight relief I saw that he looked as though he understood why I was so frightened. I saw that suddenly his mind looked like it was catching up to where mine already was.

"Yes, Potter. Only routine questions, really. Nothing too tenuous." She giggled after speaking and I felt my hands begin to shake.

I tried my best to hide it.

I didn't know what exactly she had given us but it felt like it was giving me a highly severe anxiety attack.

"Ask away, Professor," Potter said, his voice catching only slightly.

Umbridge noticed but didn't do anything about it besides give him a hard look.

"Do you enjoy having Albus Dumbledore as your Headmaster here at Hogwarts?" She asked this question with a deeper voice than usual; her clear disliking for Dumbledore in her tone.

"Yes," He said without hesitation. I felt my eyes widen at him from where I sat next to him,

 _Is he daft?! It's like he_ wants _to get in trouble!_

Her nostrils flared with anger at his response and she looked at me to answer.

I knew what she wanted me to say; I knew she wanted me to tell her that no, I didn't like him as Headmaster and that he was the worst thing that had ever happened to this school and that he needed immediate replacement; preferably her as Headmistress. It's what Draco would've said; it's what he would've known she _wanted_ to hear; it's _exactly_ what I knew she wanted to hear.

But I couldn't say it.

My tongue was tingling with the lie on my lips but I simply. _Couldn't_. _Do_. _It_.

 _Why can't I-? Salazar's spit! This toad used Veritaserum on us!_

There was no possible way I could lie on Veritaserum and she was going to drag the truth out of me to get me to spill all of my _real_ opinions on the Ministry and the Dark Lord and possibly get me expelled.

She truly was a monster.

I took a bit longer with my response; measuring out the best way not to lie but not exactly tell her the truth.

"He's an interesting Headmaster, Professor. I wouldn't say I like some of his tactics when it comes to some students," I said, my throat burning at my own words.

That was too close to a lie but not close enough because I had still been able to say it out loud. I must somewhat believe it then; it was a very Slytherin type answer, I'm sure my brother would've been proud.

She narrowed her eyes at me but took my answer without question which my racing pulse was thankful for. I looked at Potter again and his eyes, so _very_ green, understood what was going on. He knew what poison she had given to us too which was good; if he and I could play off of each other's words then maybe we could get out of this alive.

"And what, may I ask, are your thoughts on how Hogwarts has progressed through your years of attending?" She asked, waiting for either of us to reply.

Potter spoke first.

"It's been great, Professor. Hogwarts, and its teachers, have always taught insightful and useful things for when we graduate and enter the Wizarding World."

I couldn't help the laugh I wanted to let slip past my lips. Potter's answer was vague but not so vague that Umbridge wouldn't believe he was telling the truth.

We both knew clearly what she had meant by her questions: how have things fallen apart in Hogwarts since Dumbledore's been Headmaster? The toad was most likely trying to get Dumbledore sacked under the Minister of Magic's orders. It was no secret that Cornelius Fudge disliked Dumbledore because he was the better wizard and earned more votes for the position of Minister-even if he _hadn't_ wanted the job in the first place. Things were becoming clear now; Umbridge was here because Fudge wanted Dumbledore out.

"And Miss Malfoy, forgive me for being so blunt but I need to ask, do you truly believe that these dark wizards you speak of, Death Eaters, are really back? Because it's a ridiculous notion and untrue; but I'd like to know why you believe it." She looked at me with sinister eyes; she knew she had me trapped.

My father was a Death Eater; almost all of the wizarding world had heard rumor of it but was too frightened to point fingers at him or try and figure out if it was true or not. He had worked his way to be a trusted Ministry man and had the trust of Fudge himself; no one was going to call him outright. This was going to be a tough question to answer without burning my entire throat.

"I believe there are always dark forces that tend to believe in the older dark days and have trouble letting go of their glory days. I don't believe any of them will act-,"

My throat cut off at the blatant lie and it stung with sharp pains. I winced and tried again. "I don't believe they're strong enough to make a reappearance."

This was true; at least from what I'd heard during those terrifying meetings held at my home during the summer holiday. The Death Eaters were not at a strong number and therefore not strong enough to come back.

At least not any time soon.

My answer seemed to satisfy her for the time being and she moved onto Potter again.

"Do you truly believe, Mister Potter, that the Dark Lord has returned to power?"

I felt my breath catch in my throat. Potter looked at her for a long moment before simply nodding his head. My heart was pounding against my ribs and I knew without a doubt that this was going be terrible for me. She would ask me this question-a _direct_ question- and I wouldn't be able to simply tell her a half truth. I'd have to tell her the truth and everything I was trying to do, everything I'd been working at-staying low, keeping under the radar, staying in school for my brother-would be _ruined_.

She looked at me expectantly.

"And you, Miss Malfoy? Do you believe the Dark Lord has returned to power?" She repeated her question exactly the same and I felt my throat closing.

I could barely get any air down my esophagus with how badly I wanted to lie right now but the potion I was under wouldn't allow it.

I couldn't lie.

"Of course she doesn't."

My eyes snapped to Potter so fast I felt a headache form almost immediately. I felt my tight throat start to open up and I tried to hide the fact that I gulped in the oxygen, desperate for it to fill my aching lungs. Umbridge's eyes had slid over to him too and from her expression I could tell she was upset that it was not me who had answered her.

"She's just like everyone-," He paused, his throat caught choking on his air. "She thinks I'm a nutter, Professor. No one believes me." He finished.

She looked over to me for confirmation and I nodded vigorously.

"It's true, Professor. That's what I believe."

Yes, it _was_ what I believed; I believed _wholeheartedly_ that Potter was a nutter and I was not going to pass up the opportunity to voice my opinion on it if it meant that I could trick Umbridge into believing she thought I was talking about not believing him about the Dark Lord.

"Well then, good," She said and looked down at our untouched tea cups. "Oh my, your tea must be cold. Let me get you some more."

She took the cups and emptied them and placed two new tea leaf balls into them, filling them with hot water. I felt my face scrunch up, confused as to why she'd want to give us more of the potion if she'd just gotten her answers to everything she asked. Potter's expression matched mine.

She let the tea leaves melt into the water for a bit before she served us the same way she had before. We took the cups from her and with another glance at him I took a very small sip.

It was still too sweet and still too dense but that third flavor that I had tasted wasn't there anymore; it was replaced by something sweeter that made it taste _good_. I took a larger sip and felt my pulse slowing down.

 _This can't be…could it? Could she really have given us the antidote as well to the potion she'd just used on us?_

But it was; I could feel my body calming down already and my aching throat no longer burned and my hands had stopped shaking. She'd given us the antidote.

She was mad.

"You're both dismissed," She smiled at the both of us and without hesitation I set the tea cup down and practically sprinted out of the office.

Potter was hot on my tail and once we were both in the hallway, far away from her toadish presence, I looked over at him.

He had saved me today.

Whether he knew it or not he had helped me which resulted it me not having to face Umbridge's wrath with all of the taboo things spilling out of my mouth. She didn't know where I stood on the Ministry; she didn't know I believed him about the Dark Lord returning. And it was because he had lied for me.

I looked at him with wide eyes and even though my throat was no longer sore I felt it close with the emotions running through my right now.

Why had he done that? What was in it for him to have helped me like that? Did he know how much he had just helped me?

Those were only a couple of the hundreds of questions I had running through my head.

He was looking back at me with liquid green eyes and flushed cheeks. He ran a hand through his messy black hair and looked as though he was going to say something but before he could I nodded to him once and swiftly turned, sprinting toward the dungeons-admittedly, like a coward.

I didn't want to have to _thank_ him.

I didn't want to have to admit to him that he'd helped me. I am a Malfoy; I don't _need_ help. Wasn't that what I had been telling my brother all of my life? That I didn't need anyone's help? Besides, knowing Potter he'd probably use this as a type of blackmail.

I didn't want to have him hold this over me.

I _couldn't_ let him hold this over me.

 _Oh, Cessy, what have you gotten yourself into now?_

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_** _Hey there! It's been a while since I posted so I figured a nice long chapter would suffice. I see that there are some people that are following the story! A big thanks and lots of love to you! And I hope you're all enjoying it. I don't really have a set schedule to update or anything so I'm just going along with when I get spouts of energy to write. If anyone wants me to change that and to set up a schedule then let me know!_

 _What did you think of Harry coming to Cecily's rescue against Umbridge's Veritaserum attack? Do you think it was because he knew she was terrified of Umbridge and he was just trying to help as our hero usually does? Or do you think he has an underlying reason for trying to help in the first place? Hmmm..._

 _Anyways, hope you liked it!_

 _~Alyssa~_


	6. Chapter 5: Burning Guilt

**_I'd like to give a special thanks to The Cynical Prince for their review! Thank you for reading, it means a lot to me! Enjoy this chapter!_**

* * *

 **CHAPTER FIVE: BURNING GUILT**

* * *

"You look cheerful."

I sighed irately at my brother as he sat down next to me at our small circular table. He was eyeing me cautiously and in his expression I could tell he was wondering what was wrong. I hadn't exactly been chatty after my detention with Potter two nights ago and I hadn't been making an effort to see my brother which he'd noticed.

Yesterday he'd asked me why I'd been avoiding him to which I replied to with only a steely glare. He hadn't pushed the subject then but I could tell his patience was growing thin; most likely he just wanted to make sure I was okay.

Which I wasn't; I was far too irritated with myself and certain people-particularly _green eyed_ people-to be considered okay.

I could feel my irritation growing with each passing second as I sat there in our Divination classroom. The other students were rolling in and I could feel my pulse racing with anxiety. My body was tense and my muscles were strained; it seemed like I hadn't been relaxed in a bloody long time and the aching in my body was shouting at me as a result.

Draco looked concernedly at me and raised a questioning eyebrow which I promptly ignored. Trelawney hadn't yet made an appearance in the class which was good; I wasn't in the mood for her.

In fact, I wasn't in the mood for _anything_.

I hadn't slept much the past two nights due to the fact that my mind had been replaying the events of Potter's stupid actions over and over again. I simply couldn't comprehend why he'd want to help me.

We hated each other; you didn't help someone you hated, simple as that.

I was surprised that the thought had even crossed his mind at all to come to my aid considering I had left him high and dry at the mercy of Snape after the fiasco with the Weasley's little snogging trinket. More importantly he had nothing to gain from helping me as far as I could tell.

 _And, you know, there's that fact that we_ Hate. Each. Other.

I thought bitterly and almost groaned aloud when I saw the object of my agonizing thoughts saunter into the room with his Mudblood and Blood-traitor friends by his side, as usual. His eyes sought mine immediately but I didn't give him the time of day as I quickly looked away-though one glance had been enough for me to see just how _stupidly_ green his eyes were. I could only hope my expression was as stony as I thought it was.

"What's wrong with you?" Draco sneered at me, taking my foul attitude personally as I knew he would.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at him; there was no way I was going to tell him what had happened. I wouldn't even know where to begin.

I certainly couldn't tell him Umbridge had used Veritaserum on Potter and I. Draco would have a very hard time keeping his outrage to himself if I told him _that_. I could only imagine the uproar that would start with him and then spread to Snape and then surely to the entire school. Umbridge would have my head if either Potter or I let slip what she'd done. It wasn't something I could share, not ever.

I also couldn't tell him that Potter had defended and helped keep my secrets to myself by semi-lying for me; mainly because they were secrets Draco and I both knew were definitely better kept to myself. Of course, as my mind had figured out last night in the early hours of the morn, Potter must've truly believed that I thought he was lying about the Dark Lord; otherwise he wouldn't have been able to tell it to the toad.

"Nothing," I answered my brother's question, my voice cold.

I felt my nostrils flare with my growing tension and I wanted to immediately storm out of the room as soon as I saw Potter walk by me out of my peripheral vision. I pretended not to hear him and his little trio sit directly behind Draco and I.

Now why did he have to do _that_? What was the reason he had to feel the need to sit behind me? Did he know that I was already battling internal demons in my head of how upset-not to mention how confused-I was that he had helped me? Did he plan on using his heroics toward me as a _torture_ tactic?

 _Ugh, I need a Moonstone to ease this headache._

I clenched my jaw at the searing pain in my head and vaguely saw my brother sneer at Potter behind us. His grey eyes were solid as he scoffed at him.

"You just can't get enough of my sister, eh Potter? Though she's certainly had enough of _you_ ," He said as nastily as he could.

I didn't turn my head nor did I bother to stop Draco from speaking. I didn't have the energy to try and pry my brother's harsh tones away from the Lions that sat behind us. And more to the point-I didn't want to have to turn around and see Potter's infuriatingly green eyes looking at me the way he had the last time I'd actually seen him.

He had looked at me like I was someone that needed saving; a damsel.

I wasn't a _damsel_. And he was a stupid git for thinking so.

I admit, I was extremely appreciative that he had helped me avoid that chaos that would've ensued if I had been forced to tell Umbridge that yes, I _did_ believe the Dark Lord had returned, but it wasn't like I had _asked_ for his help so I certainly wasn't going to thank him for it.

If he was looking for thankfulness, he was asking the wrong person.

Potter hadn't responded to my brother's remark-which surprised me-and Draco had turned around in his seat to face Trelawney as she made her entrance. I spotted Greengrass quickly running into the room with her sandy colored hair flowing wildly behind her. She paused, glancing around the room and hesitantly looked at me before sitting down as it was the only seat available.

Theodore had sat next to Zabini at Blaise's request due to the fact that he hadn't done his Potions essay and was now trying to summarize Theodore's words and make them his own.

I felt a little sad he hadn't been next to me in my irritated state-his presence was usually a good way to ensure I would cheer up-but then again this mood I was in ran very deep and I wasn't sure he wanted to be around me to endure it. I looked sadly at him from across the room and he gave me a similar look.

It seemed that poor Greengrass would have to suffer the class with me then.

"Good morning class-," Trelawney started in her usually mystical voice that I'd grown to loath over the years. "Did everyone have a good weekend?"

No one responded to her. She smiled slightly at the silence and sighed as if delighted.

"Right, well as you can all see-," She chuckled at the use of her word " _See_ ". "We will be using our Orbs today children, isn't that exciting!"

Again, no one responded but she beamed anyway, her eyes widening in excitement behind her huge glasses making her seem even more animated than she already was.

She loved the Orbs almost as much as she loved her tea leaves.

At the thought of tea leaves I shuttered, remembering the last tea leaves that I'd encountered. Obviously Trelawney's weren't as sinister as the previous ones but it still made my skin crawl to think about being near any. I was suddenly grateful to her for making us focus on the Orbs today.

She then went on about how for today's lesson we would be trying to center our table mates' energy onto the ball with physical contact while one of us stared into the foggy Orb-where almost one hundred percent of the time nothing but fog was visible-and tried to see anything that might seem interesting in said table mate's future.

A complete waste of time, if you asked me.

"Now I suggest starting with the person who seems to have the most negative energy at your tables, please, for its far easier to see negatives energy than to pry through the Orbs to find something light. Negative energies are strong and dark and have a stronger need to be heard." Trelawney droned on, her vocal chords reaching high and low frequencies as her tones changed to make her sound even more mysterious.

I looked at my brother, who was still looking at me like he expected me to share with him what was wrong, and Greegrass who looked more nervous than Theodore had been when I had asked him to attend the Yule Ball with me last year. I rolled my eyes at them; it was clear today who had the most negative energy so I hastily placed my hand onto the cold Orb, giving them both annoyed glances.

"Who wants to read me today, huh?" I asked haughtily.

Draco took on the task and flipped open his book to chapter four, as was instructed by our professor.

"It shouldn't be hard to see what's negatively affecting you in your future today little sister, your practice with Montague is today," He said and his face hardened at his own words.

I groaned aloud this time and placed my head in my free hand trying desperately to ignore the fact that soon, in nearly seven hours I'd be alone with Montague on the quidditch pitch.

I had no doubt in my mind that he'd take this opportunity to try and secretly use a love potion on me but I'd certainly had my fill of being slipped potions without my consent for a while so if he tried anything, _anything at all_ , he was going to regret he'd ever even thought about it.

"You'll be okay Cecily. We won't let him do anything to you," Greengrass' soft voice spoke to me and her face, flushed with nerves, seemed determined to get this message across to me.

I raised an eyebrow at her and she looked down to her lap quickly.

"The bloody hell does that mean? Who is "we"?"

She glanced up from her lap toward my brother and gave him a soft nod, he returned the favor and grinned at my expression. Apparently my irritation was humorous to him.

"Oh no-," I groaned again and glared at my brother. "You got Greegrass in on your little plan against Montague?!" I whispered, as to not draw attention.

I hoped I let enough venom slip into my tone as I spoke to my brother but he seemed completely unbothered by it, shaking off my tone as I usually did to him. Another trait we shared as Malfoy's-we could thank our father for that.

Draco pretended to look deeply into the foggy white Orb while Trelawney made her rounds near our table. He answered me almost cheerily.

"You're going to have a wonderful time on the field today, Cessy, I can see that for sure," He said and eyed our Divination professor.

"Good job Mister Malfoy! Even as Miss Malfoy's bitterness seeps through her and into the air around us you've still managed to see something positive in the midst of it-fifteen points to Slytherin! For being the first house to accomplish the task."

Professor Trelawney looked adoringly at my brother while I sat there slightly offended that she had said I was bitter. I mean I _was_ , but that didn't mean I wanted her to announce it to everyone. She continued to smile at my brother admiringly and he grinned at her obvious adoration of him; she'd always had a soft spot for him when she'd told him in our Third Year that she had been the Seer that told our mother that she was going to have a son who would " _do very incredibly great things_ ". He never let me forget it.

Though she somehow failed to predict that I would be joining him in the world only seven minutes after his birth, but " _details, details, darling_ " as she would say.

"Thank you, Professor. It seems my sister is going to have an-," He paused, thinking of the right word. "An inspiringly good ending to her day," He said and smirked at me while I glared at him.

Trelawney nodded and hummed in approval at his response; she continued to move along after that.

Her attention had been caught behind us where I could feel a certain someone's eyes on me which was making my already tense body even more stressed.

 _Stupid git._

My mind was screaming at me not to turn around but my impulse was too strong. I spun around in my chair and saw, disappointingly, that Potter was looking at me indeed with the same exact expression he'd had on when we'd left Umbridge's office. I snarled at him immediately, ignoring the dark flush on my cheeks at my anger, and turned back around to face my brother. My hand gripped the Orb dangerously; if I wasn't careful I was sure I was going to break the damn thing.

 _I am not a damsel!_

Why did he have to single me out in all of the students in this entire room? Well, of course I knew the answer, it was a stupid question to even ask myself.

He was paying me all of this attention because he was the _hero_ and he hadn't yet gotten to give his _hero_ _speech_ to me yet. Ugh; even the thought of enduring that was nauseating.

Potter's hero instincts were simply that; instincts.

He saw someone he believed needed his help and whether or not they asked for it didn't matter because he was going to give it to them anyway.

It was part of the reason I despised him so much during our earlier years at Hogwarts. He had needed to be the savior to everyone he'd met and I had thought it was because he wanted to keep himself in the spotlight which had just fueled my hatred toward him. There was nothing worse than a pompous celebrity. Everyone had their place and Potter was no more special than anyone else in my eyes but of course he'd always gotten that special treatment from everyone because of his name. There were countless times when I wanted to hex him just for existing-I was a violent little girl at age eleven.

However, because of his recent actions towards me I was beginning to believe it was just who he was.

It wasn't because he wanted fame-although most of the time I still believed he loved every second of it-and it wasn't because he wanted people to notice him-he rather seemed to hate having too much attention on him I'd noticed-but simply it was just who he was as a person and he couldn't help it.

And that was even more infuriating; how could I despise someone who just wanted to help people?

 _Easily, all they have to do is have a lightning bolt scar and green eyes to go with it._

At least that's what I kept telling myself.

"Cessy, you're going to break it." My brother's voice brought me out of my own head and I looked at the Orb in my white knuckled hands. I let go of it hastily.

"Maybe you should have a go at it, then," I said with ice in my voice.

Draco rolled his eyes and put his hand on the Orb instead. I looked at Greengrass to see if she was going to be taking on the task of reading him but she didn't move her eyes from her lap so I stared into the fog, expecting to see nothing as usual.

"I don't think you're focusing enough of your negative energy," I muttered and he let a chuckle slip past his lips.

"Why don't you try sharing some of your bitterness, then?" He asked, amusement in his tone.

"Oh, shove _off_ -," I reached for his hand to push his hand off of the Orb and without any warning a shot of ice shot down my spine, chilling my entire body, as my hand made contact with his on the foggy crystal ball.

Suddenly it was like I wasn't sitting in my Divination class but rather as if I was in one of my dreams.

There was loud voice shouting around me but I couldn't make out anything they were saying; it almost sounded like they were in a different room than myself. I could tell it was a man and woman though by the change in pitch as they argued. A flash of light passed my vision and in that flash I saw a bright crescent moon blinding me against the darkness. There was another much clearer voice that shouted out to me and I recognized this voice; it was the clear proud tone of my brother. He was calling my name and he sounded agonizingly distraught and I wanted nothing more than to reach out to him and comfort him; he sounded so very sad. But I couldn't see him against the light of the moon, I didn't even know where he was and then there was another flash. This time instead of a moon I saw with an eerie chill what could only be the Dark Mark looming over a very tall building with pointed towers. It was too dark for me to recognize the building fully but a part of me had a feeling it was Hogwarts.

Another flash of light with a colder shot of ice hit my body and finally I was back in my seat next to my brother who was breathing heavily as he looked at me. He was gripping my shoulders tightly in his hands and I looked to see Daphne next to us with wide worried eyes and the Orb in her hands, off of the table.

"The bloody hell was that?" I breathed, feeling my own lungs struggle to maintain an even breathing pattern.

Draco shook his head at me; he had no answer. He let go of my shoulders and a hard expression crossed his face as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

Clearly he had seen what I had seen, or maybe he'd seen something different, but he'd seen _something_ and it was because we had touched the Orb at the same time. Thankfully Professor Trelawney had been too occupied with Pavarti Patil and Lavender Brown-two Gryffindor bints-to notice our little episode.

I felt my pulse racing in my veins and I tried to take deep breaths to calm down but I couldn't find it in me. I wasn't sure what I had just seen, why I had seen it or why it had been when I touched the Orb at the same time Draco did that allowed us to see it in the first place.

"Are you two alright?"

The voice came from behind us and I looked at my brother while he snarled at who had spoken, his confusion temporarily forgotten as he took on a familiar foe.

It had been Granger, of all people, that had seen what happened besides Greengrass and of course with her being linked to Potter's side I could only assume she would have some of that silly hero complex that he bared so proudly.

Apparently it was contagious.

"Of course we're okay-," My brother's voice was dangerous. "Stay out of our business, Mudblood."

I gave him a harsh look and kicked him under the table.

"Stop that," I hissed.

He looked at me like I had just stunned him but I ignored his outraged look and continued to glare. It wasn't like I was against using the term Mudblood-because that's what she was, it's just how things were-but Draco had had trouble in the past with using it out loud and having students tell on him when they'd taken great offense. If I wasn't mistaken, I was positive using it on Granger had gotten him punched once; something I had been furious about and would never forget.

But with what had just happened with the two of us it wasn't exactly like I could afford to have him leave to get a lecture from one of our professors about language; I needed to talk to him about this. Now.

His foul language could wait until later.

"Say that word again, Malfoy, and I'll hex your arrogant blonde head off."

This came from Potter's Weasel who sat dutifully beside him. I turned around and glared at him.

"If anyone says anything else I'll turn you all into termites!" I seethed, eyeing Weasel in particular but giving the whole group, aside from Greengrass, an icy glare.

Weasel's face was reddened from anger but when he saw my deadly expression he didn't say another word. I looked to Granger who looked as though she was trying hard not to cry though she also looked simultaneously livid.

"Yes, we're fine, Granger. Thank you for asking."

I didn't believe her asking if we were alright had at all warranted my brother's vicious response to her and I saw that she had seen what happened to us and was a bit concerned. Granger wasn't my favorite person, but I hadn't really had a problem with her all that much so I figured addressing her concern would please her for the time being and perhaps it would keep her from running to a professor to tell them that my brother's foul mouth was acting up again.

As it was she beamed at me for thanking her, glassy eyes and red cheeks vanished. She nodded her head at me but didn't say anything else. Potter looked on the verge of speaking to me but with a brief glance at him- _very_ brief, I didn't want to have to look into his gem like eyes for too long in fear of seeing that _look_ he'd been giving me-I turned back around in my seat and ignored him. I swear I heard his annoyed sigh but I couldn't have been sure.

"Cessy, what the hell-?"

"Listen, I don't know what the hell just happened to us but I can't have you being charted off by a professor for yet another lecture on your language when we need to talk about this, okay? Leave it be," I snarled at him and he glared at me but kept his mouth shut.

It seemed he agreed with me enough to not say another word on the subject. I looked over at Greengrass and saw her rather pale face looking back and forth between the two of us worriedly; the Orb was still in her hands.

I shuttered and looked away from it almost feeling the shot of ice that had come from touching it.

As I had said…poor Greengrass certainly had to suffer through this horrid class with me.

* * *

I wasted no time after my classes were done for the day. I had told Draco not to discuss what had happened to us in Divination with anyone or even ourselves until we were in the safety of the Potions classroom. Snape wasn't occupying it at the moment which was good; we didn't need to have him worrying about yet another thing with us. So I had dragged him to the dungerons immediately after out last class.

"What even is there to talk about, Cessy?" Draco's tone seemed bored as I locked the door and charmed the room to ensure our conversation was private. Granger, Weasley, Potter and Greengrass were the only ones that had seen what had happened in our first class of the day and I didn't intend on letting anyone else in on it.

"What do you mean?!" I whirled around on him and felt my mouth gaping open at his obvious lack of interest. "There's plenty to talk about, brother!"

"Some sort of twin thing must've happened when we touched the Orb, I'm sure it's happened before. We're not the only twins in Hogwarts, you know." He shrugged, leaning back against Snape's desk with an expression of pure boredom.

"Are you kidding me? Draco, I'm positive we would've heard about something like this if it had happened to another set of twins…" I glared at him.

How could he be so calm about this? Did he know yet another thing that I was left in the dark with? Was he keeping secrets again?

He shrugged again and rolled his eyes at me.

"It's not that strange, Cessy. We're wizards-things like this happen."

"No-," I hissed. "They _don't_ , Raco."

He looked at me with a somber and slightly sad expression after I had used the name I only used when I was being completely serious with him and I could tell he saw just how concerned I was about this. It wasn't that I was all that concerned-though I _was_ -it was that he wasn't concerned _enough_.

What if what we had seen meant something terrible? What if it was some sort of omen? The muffled voices I had heard didn't sound as though they were having a particularly cheery conversation. Draco's agonized cry of my name didn't sound like he was enjoying a good game of quidditch. The Dark Mark over what presumably was our own bloody school certainly didn't mean anything _pleasant_ for us.

But then…maybe he hadn't seen what I had.

"What did you see?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest, my voice involuntarily taking an accusatory tone.

I could tell my expression was pinched as I asked this. He raised an eyebrow at me in question.

"The same thing you saw, I'm guessing?" He asked.

"I saw a few things. What did you see in the vision?"

"Oh, it's a _vision_ now?" He questioned and shook his head, shifting his weight around uncomfortably. He avoided looking at me but I could see his anxious expression.

I could tell he was on the verge of denying everything; as his twin I could easily tell that all of this was overwhelming him. He didn't quite understand everything which I'm sure was already bothering him enough. He hated not knowing things; not being in control of things. And I'm sure with his thoughts already having traces of darkness seeping into them-thanks to our horrid summer experience-a vision on top of things wasn't going to make it easy on him. It broke my heart to see him like that.

"Let's not pretend to say that's not what it is. It was a vision and we shared it in our heads when we touched the Orb," I said and saw his face pale at the realization. Apparently the seriousness of it had finally sunken into his thick skull.

"I don't want you to shut me out, Draco."

"I wasn't planning to," He said and glared, slightly offended. I returned the look.

"It's not like you've been sharing a lot of things with me this year, brother. We need to be on each other's side."

He rolled his eyes at me again and sighed.

"I'm always on your side, Cessy," He said quietly and I sighed with a slight smile tugging at the corner of my lips. "Whether or not you believe me is up to you, but it's true." He sighed again.

"Then we need to help each other through this-what did you see?" I asked.

He thought for a moment before answering me. His voice was shaking slightly.

"I heard voices arguing, I heard you shouting my name but I didn't see you, I saw a crescent moon, and also-," He paused and swallowed the lump that I was sure had grown in his throat. "The Dark Mark. It was over the castle."

"That's what I saw too-good. At least we don't have to worry about separate visions."

I looked at him and saw just how worried he was about that last part of our vision. I knew it was because of what he'd been thinking of-of what he'd be expected to do eventually. He, like me, had a hunch of what father's plans were for him.

It made me furious that he had such dark thoughts; a young boy shouldn't have to think of such things.

I sighed and moved from my spot on one of the desks. I found myself pacing a bit-there were too many thoughts running through my head and I needed to take a second to myself.

"What do you think it means?" He asked, his voice very quiet.

"I don't know. Honestly all I can think of is that there might be some sort of attack on the school or something…" I bit my lip as I thought of the other possibilities but the most plausible one that there must be some sort of invasion on the castle.

The Death Eaters must somehow get strong enough to regroup and be able to infiltrate the school. But how?

The school was probably the most protected place in all of the United Kingdom against the Dark Lord and his followers-Dumbledore would ensure that.

And another burning question: _when_ was this vision going to happen?

The vision had given no indication as to the time frame of its events so it left me feeling utterly useless.

"Should we maybe tell someone? Like a professor?" I asked, thinking that maybe telling Snape wouldn't be such a bad idea afterall. This whole thing seemed to be way too dangerous for just my brother and I to take on by ourselves.

"No-," Draco scoffed. "They won't do anything helpful for us. We're on the wrong side, remember? Anything we tell them will inevitably get back to father and if he ever found out we had told something important to one of our teachers he'd-,"

"Yes- _yes_ , I'm fully aware of what he'd do." I glared at him and shuttered at the memory of my father's terrifying voice hissing at me that if I stepped out of line once this year in any way he'd make sure I'd pay for it three times over.

"We don't want anything like this getting out, little sister." Draco's tone was warning me and I looked over at him to see a very similar expression to that of my father's on his own face. I frowned at the sight; I hated when Draco looked like him.

It gave me a very wrong feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I won't say anything, then," I muttered, feeling very much like I was being spoken to like I was a child.

"Good. Meanwhile, let's not think on it for too long, okay? We have other things we can think about."

"Like my practice with Montague," I groaned and looked at the clock that was to the left of Snape's desk.

It was nearly that time-I'd have just enough time to eat dinner before heading down to the quidditch pitch.

"Like I said, don't you worry about that."

His serious expression had turned into one of mischief and I narrowed my eyes at him. I still hadn't bothered to try and figure out what he and Theodore, and apparently Greengrass, had been up to whilst preparing for my practice.

"You didn't do anything that will get me in trouble, did you?" I accused.

He placed a hand over his chest in false offense.

"Why dear sister, you underestimate me." He winked at me and I surprisingly managed to smile at him.

I couldn't remember the last time I genuinely smiled at something; my mind had been way too preoccupied to think of happy things.

"Theodore's really the one to thank for this, by the way." Draco said my friend's name like a nuisance. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh yeah? I'll be sure to thank him then."

"I think the bloke fancies you, to be honest," He said, even more annoyance seeping into his tone.

When we were younger Draco had taken his role as my big brother very seriously and had made sure to protect me from any and all things even slightly threatening. My father had always warned him about keeping his little sister safe from boys and making sure that I wasn't hurt. To this day Draco despised any boy that came near me with romantic intentions; apparently this included Theodore, who happened to be his friend as well.

"Most likely not," I said, hoping my tone didn't give away the fact that I was lying. "Theodore and I have always been and always will be just friends, dear brother. Don't you worry." I said, using his own words against him.

He looked annoyed still but didn't push the subject. He trusted Theodore and I could tell it was hard for him to have any sort of negative feelings toward him, even if it was at the expense of him having a slight crush on me.

"Well, we should get some food into you and then you can get to your practice."

Even with him throwing his reassurance of my safety against Montague at me I could see his face darken at the idea of me and that creep alone.

"I can handle my own, Draco, remember that," I said and went over to him, linking my arm in his.

We exited Snape's office together and he ushered me toward the Great Hall where my nervous stomach would hopefully be able to hold down some food.

* * *

"You look fantastic in that uniform, Malfoy"

I jumped in surprise at the voice and glared at Montague as he entered the girls' dressing area. I snarled at him as he approached-he was looking me up and down like I was a meal, which I did not appreciate one bit. I already had enough on my mind where my brother's and my vision was concerned, on top of Snape's concern for my birth mark, and also the constant nagging at the back of my mind telling me that Potter deserved an apology from me for my behavior.

I did _not_ need to add Montague's disgusting fantasies to my list of things to worry about.

"This is the women's dressing room, Montague the least you could've done was asked if I was decent," I snapped at him.

He smirked and shrugged.

"Certainly wouldn't have been a problem with me if you weren't."

I rolled my eyes at his vile imagination and sighed, snatching my broom from where my school clothes were. He could be truly disgusting when he wanted to be and today was no exception. I eyed the water bottle that I had brought with me from the Great Hall and vaguely pushed it out of the sight of Montague.

If he was planning on drugging me it wouldn't be with my own source of hydration.

"Are we going to practice or are you just going to ogle me all night, Montague?" I asked and walked out of the tent toward the quidditch pitch.

He snickered behind me but followed nonetheless.

"Might as well do both," He said.

I scoffed in disgust. If he was going to keep this up the whole practice I was going to hex him with or without my brother's elaborate plan that I had yet to figure out.

Once we made it to the pitch I narrowed my eyes at him and raised a questioning eyebrow to him. His eyes were narrowed as well and he hastily snatched his broom from the side of the entrance to the pitch. He looked as confused as I was, though a lot more upset.

"I thought this was a private practice?"

He was sneering at the sight in front of us and I couldn't help but wonder if he knew just how unpleasant his face looked when he looked like that.

"It is," He snarled.

In the stands of the quidditch pitch sat a fair amount of students-usually about the same amount that would show up for normal tryouts. From the looks of the stands it was mainly just Gryffindor's that occupied the seats however there were a few Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's in the mix.

No Slytherin's.

I wasn't quite sure if this was what my brother and Theodore's and Greengrass' plan was but it certainly made me feel a little bit better that there would be a crowd to witness any of Montague's creepy advances. I doubted this was what they had been up to-they were Slytherin's after all and they were much sneakier than this. Not to mention the fact that Montague had clearly said that there was to be no one else allowed in the pitch.

Draco wasn't stupid enough to defy his rules straight out-especially when his Seeker position could be compromised in the process.

But that left me with even more questions: who else had heard that we were having a private tryout?

And as if my mind was answering its own question my eyes found a black head of hair in the stands, flanked by a redhead and a bushy haired brunette.

 _Potter's here? But why?_

As I looked it seemed that most of the Gryffndor quidditch team was present, as well as some of Potter's other friends in their house.

 _This couldn't have been his plan, could it? No, that's ridiculous he has no reason to want to protect me from Montague…_

Montague himself looked ready to explode from his anger. His ears and neck were very red and his dark eyes looked black with hatred.

"It's not like we can kick them all out-besides, don't you want to see how I play?" I asked.

He looked over at me, still livid, but he nodded once.

"Right, let's get to it then."

I mounted my broom as he did and then quick as a flash we were in the air. He had already set up the quaffle and bludgers-I didn't need to practice with the snitch, I wasn't trying out for Seeker. I could only imagine how mad my brother would be if I tried to steal his spot on the team.

The thought made me laugh.

Montague's tryout was relatively easy, if I was being honest.

A Chaser's position was probably the easier position on the team and I was very good at it. Montague pretended he was on an opposing team and would try and chase me with the quaffle under my arm. He could hardly keep up with me and-not to be boastful-but I could tell he was really putting in an effort. It made me giddy to see he was struggling to keep up. He switched to the Beater's position half way through my tryout and nearly hit me several times but I managed to dodge them with sharp, swift motions as Draco had taught me to during the summer. To my complete astonishment, I had even heard some polite claps from the stands. And finally he had changed to a Keeper's position to try and block me from scoring any points with the quaffle. He managed to save only one-which was mainly due to his stupidity-but overall I believed I had a good tryout.

My muscles were full of pent up energy and my chest was heaving-it was quite the workout.

Montague and I landed on the pitch I looked to the stands and my eyes found Potter again; he seemed to be watching us intently even out of the sky. I felt an annoying prick in the back of my mind again and shook my head of it, focusing back on Montague.

I wasn't going to bother myself with any of Potter's antics at the moment.

Montague was looking at me still like I was a meal to be devoured and I internally groaned. I couldn't have been the most attractive thing in the moment and yet he still had time to imagine repulsive scenarios in his head of us. It made me sick.

"You did great, Malfoy. You've definitely made the team. Try to work on scoring, though. We're trying to get as many points as we can," He winked at his innuendo and I shuttered.

"Sure, thanks Montague," I said, hoping my voice didn't let on that I was slightly repulsed by him. "I won't let the team down."

I was ecstatic that I had made the team but I would've rather celebrated when Montague wasn't around.

"I'm sure you won't. Shall I help you get out of those sweaty clothes now?" He suggested with a wink as we started to head back toward the dressing tents. I nearly gagged out loud.

Before I could even respond to his vile suggestion he shouted out in pain and dropped his broom in the process. I raised an eyebrow at him as he continued to shout profanities.

 _The hell was that…?_

"You alright?" I asked, taking his broom off of the ground.

He paused and looked to the broom in my hand and then back at his now reddened hand.

"I-uh, yeah." He said, a very deep confusion in his tone.

I couldn't blame him; who the hell knew what had just happened. I gave him back his broom and we started back towards the tents. I had gone to the girl's and he had left to go to the boys. I quickly tore off my sweaty clothes and hurriedly put on my normal school uniform in fear of Montague deciding to barge in at any time. Just as I was about done I heard a blood curdling scream come from the boys dressing room and I hurried over there, wand in my hand and heart beating loudly in my ears.

"Montague!" I shouted and saw him groaning in pain on the ground.

Off to the side I saw what looked to be smoke coming from his broom and he was clutching his groin area for some reason.

"Montague, what happened?" I asked.

He was still moaning and wasn't able to give me a response. I was beyond confused and just as I was about to ask what had happened again I looked around to see if there was any explanation. To my utter horror, I looked upon the tent's side and saw that he had cast a charm on it that seemed to allowed him to see straight through into the girl's dressing room. Only I hadn't been able to see him looking at me on the other side; it had the effect of a two-way mirror. I gasped in horror.

"You _bastard_!" I snarled and drew my wand on him, shouting the first three jinxes that came to my mind.

I hadn't realized what I was saying until I saw him with some sort of oozing slime coming out of his orifices and I could tell he no longer had any use of his legs for they had gone limp-jelly legs jinx was very useful sometimes-and apparently I had thrown in a tongue tying jinx because his loud groans were now even more muffled. He looked positively horrid.

"Serves you right!"

I stormed out of the dressing room, my ears ringing from the humiliation and my fury because of it.

I wasn't sure what my brother had done to stop him from looking at me for too long but clearly he'd seen more than enough and that was the last straw. I could deal with vile language and crude remarks when it came to Montague but seeing me undressed without any type of permission and in the creepiest way he could manage was beyond disgusting. Those jinxes were child's play compared to what he had coming to him.

He would pay. For that I would be sure.

* * *

"I'll kill him! I swear, I will! How _dare_ he, the fucking _nerve_ , he has to peep on you like that?! He's a _dead_ man, Cessy mark my words!"

"You can say that again, bg brither, I'm not going to elt him live the next time I see him," I snarled.

As soon as I had left Montague I had run right to my brother and Theodore and told them what had happened. They had told me that they had jinxed his broom so that any type of vile words spoken out loud would burn him. I explained to them that he had been watching me through the boys dressing room and must've said something aloud to himself with his broom in his hands or leaned against him or something because he was badly burned when I had run into to the room. I told them it must've been near his groin too because he had been clutching that area very harshly.

"Good! The foul git _deserves_ to be burned in the bollocks!" Theodore was seething as well and it fueled my anger even more.

It was a rare occasion when something made Theodore even slightly upset and to see him this angry was upsetting; I hated seeing him like this.

"He's going to pay; I promise you that." My voice was as icy as ever.

I still couldn't believe it. He had actually had the nerve to peep on me through some charm that he'd cast. What a bastard! Did he know what someone with my reputation could do to someone like him?! Clearly not but I was positive he'd be finding out _extremely_ soon. I didn't know what had become of Montague in the current moment but frankly I didn't care.

He could be suffering from my jinxes still and I would gladly rejoice at the thought of it.

"I'm so sorry, Cecily. I really didn't think he'd do anything like that. I am so, so sorry." Theodore looked at me with the same fierceness in his eyes that I had seen that day when he'd come to see me in my dorm after he had told me he wouldn't let anyone hurt me.

"It's not your fault, Theodore, there's nothing to apologize for," I muttered and crossed my arms over my chest.

Since returning to my dormitory I had thrown on the largest jumper and pajama pants I could find; subconsciously trying to hide any and all traces of curves or any aspects of my female body. I felt violated, betrayed and quite frankly I felT disgusting. Montague of all people had been the first to see me that way and it made me sick to my stomach. I wanted to punch something.

Jojo, my poor cat, was looking at me with a sad longing in her eyes. She could sense my uneasiness and I could tell she wanted nothing more than to make me feel better. She was curled up on my lap and was watching me like a hawk. I scooped her up into my arms and buried my face in her soft fur. She purred.

"I _hate_ this; I _hate_ that he saw me like that! Ugh!"

"Cessy, I'm so sorry," Draco said and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I looked at the two of them, so vastly different looking, but their expressions were the same. They held pity in their eyes and sorrow on their faces for me. I wanted to snap at them; I wasn't a damsel! Ugh!

But I knew it was just because they cared about me so I kept my mouth shut. Instead of reprimanding them I simply sighed and turned my table light off, signaling to both of them that I wanted to fall asleep and be alone with my thoughts.

"We'll let you get some sleep," My brother's tone was softer now; realizing I wanted to be alone.

Theodore gave my shoulder a hard squeeze before petting Jojo and bidding me a goodnight. Draco lingered for a moment longer before leaving as well. I didn't even want to look at Greegrass, who had been staring at me the whole time while Draco and Theodore were in the room so I simply rolled over onto my side and let Jojo curl up into me. Truth be told I was too overwhelmed with everything that had happened today. My mind could only take so much; I was just a girl after all.

I tried my best not to let any tears fall as I drifted off into peaceful darkness.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:** Poor Cecily! Montague's a real creep, isn't he? Any guesses as to why Harry and so many others were at their so called private try out? Any guesses as to how the hell Draco and Cecily managed to have a vision together? All questions will be answered along the way! _

_Hope you guys are enjoying the story! And again, thank you to The Cynical Prince for your very nice review!_

 _~Alyssa~_


	7. Chapter 6: Strange Friends

_**Hello all! Thank you all so much for those of you that reviewed and favorited this story! I know it's been since like...October but I finally got a writing buzz back! So sorry it's been so long, thanks for hanging in there! Enjoy!**_

* * *

 **CHAPTER SIX: STRANGE FRIENDS**

* * *

The cold weather seemed to turn colder with my mood. I couldn't shake the disgusted, vile, feeling that kept running through my veins as I recalled Montague's beady eyes staring at me through the charmed wall in the tent. Chills grew on my skin as I thought of it. It truly made me sick to think about.

How _dare_ he.

Who did he think he was? He had no right to my body or anyone else's for that matter.

I had yet to see him; he'd been chalked up in the hospital wing last I'd heard. But I knew that when I did eventually see him that he was going to come to a _very_ unhappy end.

It was the middle of the week, Wednesday, and Professor Snape was currently talking about something that was going in one ear and out the other. My mind was too jumbled with thoughts of how I was going to mutilate Graham Montague to focus on the dull words that were spilling from my Professor's mouth. I almost felt bad not listening to him but that guilt didn't override my burning desire for revenge at the moment so Snape's lecture would have to wait.

Draco was next to me dutifully taking notes in his elegant script-I'd have to copy them later. On my other side I saw Theodore also taking notes but in a much more frantic way. Snape always talked too fast for his liking and his messy scrawl was the result. He'd told me once he wished he could charm Snape into talking slowly at least for one day just so he could get a good set of notes.

The newest page in my notebook was empty save for the date on the top right hand corner.

I knew that I should've at least pretended to be taking notes-Snape would start to ask questions if he saw that I was this distracted-but I didn't bother. I'd thought many times about telling Snape what had happened in the boys dressing room but the scenario in my mind always ended the same: Snape getting sacked due to the fact that he murdered one of his students.

No, telling Snape wasn't an option.

I sighed heavily as I glanced at the clock-ten more minutes until we were free.

"I'm sorry Miss Malfoy, is my lecture boring you?"

Snape's voice was louder now as I was sat in the back and he wanted to make sure the whole class heard him speak to me. I glared at him and felt my face pinch in annoyance. Apparently he had heard me sighing and found it rude enough to be called out on.

"No, Professor. I apologize for _breathing_ too loudly, though." I continued to glare.

"Try to keep it down, will you? Some of your class mates are trying to learn-though, I'm not entirely sure it's not slipping through some of your daft minds already," He said and gave a pointed look to the table of Gryffindor's off to the far right.

A table of Gryffindor's that held signature bushy curls of a know-it-all brunette accompanied by a redhead and a spikey mess of black hair. I glared at them too.

I was already completely engrossed with how painful Montague's death was going to be; I didn't need to be tormented by my bitterly conflicted feelings towards how I've been treating Potty.

Which was poorly; I'd been treating him poorly.

And this was not new but I'd never felt _guilty_ about it before so it made it even more confusing.

"You alright?" My brother whispered to me as Snape went back to his lecture.

I sighed and looked at him, shaking my head no. He gave me a look, I'm not sure exactly what it meant-a look between him hating how I was feeling but also telling me I needed to hide it better. As Malfoy's we were expected to remain cool, calm and collected at all times.

I'm not even sure I qualified as a Malfoy anymore.

"I need to get out of this class room, I have a headache," I mumbled.

My brother didn't say anything but gave me the same look as before. Theodore, next to me, gave me a sympathetic look. He'd been hovering a lot since the whole Montague thing. He made sure he didn't leave my side during breakfast and he walked me to each class and made sure he was sat next to me every time. He kept giving me those look of pity that I loathed so much but I let it slide this time. I was more focused on what I was going to inflict on Graham instead of arguing pointlessly about me not being a damsel in distress-since they didn't seem to care that I put up a fight about it anyway.

"Few more minutes, Cessy." Theodore spoke softly to me like he was afraid I would explode any minute which would've offended my normally but I wasn't in the mood to argue. I sighed again, catching Snape's attention but he didn't berate me this time. Instead he gave me a look that clearly said I'd have to stay after class to have a chat with him. I rolled my eyes but nodded nonetheless.

He continued with the lecture.

And then finally, after what seemed like hours, he dismissed the class. Draco and Theodore got up next to me, gathering their things in their book bags. My brother noticed my lack of movement and raised an eyebrow.

"Snape wants to talk to me, I'll see you guys at dinner?" I asked them.

"Sure, we'll save a seat for you." Theodore winked and I chuckled.

I couldn't remember a time when they _hadn't_ saved a seat for me.

As they were leaving I caught a glimpse of the black haired nuisance looking at me and I quickly looked away from him; I didn't want to deal with him now, or ever, for that matter. He seemed like he took the hint and left with his friends. I looked back over at him when his back was to me and saw what looked like him shrugging his shoulders when his Mudblood friend asked him something I couldn't hear. I furrowed my brows together in concern.

 _For the love of Salazar they aren't_ discussing _my attitude toward Potter, are they?_

I internally groaned and the irritation I'd already harbored for Montague grew even more for Potter. I glared at the Potions door when it closed behind them and angrily crossed my arms over my chest.

When it was just me and my mentor in the classroom he came over to me and looked at my empty notebook and all thoughts of Montague and Potter left my mind and were now focused on the irate look my Professor was giving me.

"Sorry, I've been distracted, Professor." I mumbled, not feeling too badly about not taking notes but also feeling like a small child under angry his gaze.

He took a long moment for speaking-probably to torture me.

"You're brother's notes are likely to get you a high grade, see to it you get them from him," He said finally. "What seems to be bothering you, Miss Malfoy?"

I sighed in relief at being able to copy Draco's notes without punishment and bit my bottom lip at the word vomit that was threatening to come out. I wanted to tell him everything that was bothering me!

From the fact that Montague peeped on me, to him wanting to drug me; for me being extra snotty to Potter for no good reason, for feeling guilty about being rude to him; from Draco and I sharing an unexplained and very vague vision; from Umbridge torturing Potter and myself through our detentions; from the bloody Dark Lord's return!

But of course I couldn't explain any of that to him so I _painfully_ remained silent. He didn't look like he had expected an answer right away but he did look a bit surprised that I wasn't telling him _something_ , at least. Usually he was the first one, besides my brother, that I confided in. I could see on his face that he expected me to do so now.

 _Perhaps I could try explaining things to him without giving away anything too detailed?_

It wasn't the best plan I'd thought up but without many other options I gave it a shot.

"Professor…hypothetically speaking…say there was someone you loathed going about telling people they were going to do something horrible to you…" I started, avoiding his gaze and keeping my voice light.

There was no need for him to be too concerned with my hypothetical story considering he absolutely knew it would be a real story if it was coming from me.

"What kind of horrible thing?" He asked, his voice low and threatening.

Yes, he definitely knew this story was real. I couldn't even imagine what he would do to Montague if he found out he wants to drug me with a love potion.

"That's beside the point, Professor," I said and flicked my hair over my shoulder, keeping my composure cool. "I just want to know what you would do? Would you confront them?"

"I would," He paused. "But not positively."

I waited for him to continue but he left it at that. I raised an eyebrow for him to elaborate but he gave me one of his looks; the kind that said I had to figure it out for myself.

I glared a bit at him and he simply gave me a small smirk; he absolutely loved letting me solve things by myself however I think he enjoyed watching me struggle more so than actually solving things.

"Well that's perfectly helpful, Professor." I rolled my eyes at him and huffed a sigh, leaning back in my seat and crossing my arms over my chest.

"Think for a moment, stop assuming you don't know what I mean," He said.

I sighed again and with another exaggerated eye roll at my lovely Professor I thought about it. He said he would confront the person but not positively. The word "positivity" is supposed to mean optimism, and more loosely a root to the happier things in life. Maybe he meant he wouldn't confront them on a good note? I didn't see why anyone would confront someone that was threatening them with a smile and a cup of tea though, that just seemed completely foolish. So what was the opposite of positively?

 _Wait!_

I shot up in my seat as an idea popped into my head. Snape raised an eyebrow at me as I came to my revelation. I laughed at his curious face and shook my head.

"Thanks, Professor, this actually _was_ helpful." I smiled again and started gathering my still empty notebook and put it in my book bag.

"Well I'm pleased by the news," He said but didn't bother asking what conclusion I had come to. The beauty of Snape not caring enough. "Not so fast Miss Malfoy…"

He called after me as I reached the door to leave. I had been ignoring my grumbling stomach indicating my hunger but suddenly all I wanted to do was go to the Great Hall and see my brother and Theodore.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Out of curiosity…" He looked toward my wrist. "Have you done any type of research on the meaning of a crescent moon birthmark?"

I dropped my hand from the door and looked at my mark. It seemed as though the light pink color kept getting darker as the days past and the weather got colder. I hadn't really thought much of it since the whole incident with the Orbs. I traced it lightly and looked back at my Professor. His facial expression was neutral but his eyes held a dangerous curiosity in them.

That could never be good.

All of my previous nerves swam back into my subconscious and I again feared the worst.

 _Maybe my birthmark is an omen of an early grave? Maybe it really_ does _mean death is coming for me?_

Snape's face surely wouldn't look so grave if that wasn't the case.

 _Would it?_

"No, Professor…" I said, the fiasco with the vision in Divination on the tip of my tongue. "You said it wasn't anything I had to worry about…was I wrong?" I asked.

He paused only a moment before answering almost too quickly.

"It isn't, but perhaps it's something you should look into in your spare time? Instead of sulking around the common room, whining about things as you've been known to do."

"I haven't whined about anything-," I paused, rethinking that statement recalling many-if not all-of my conversations with my fellow Slytherin's. He was right, I always seemed to complain about something. " _Much_!"

He didn't say anything but simply smirked and shook his head.

"On your way, Miss Malfoy."

I rolled my eyes at his clever tactic to distract me and did as he said, leaving the Potions classroom with a mind full of questions about my curious little birthmark.

* * *

"Why is everyone staring at me?"

It had been at least twenty minutes into dinner and it wasn't like I hadn't noticed everyone occasionally slipping glances toward me but I had chosen to ignore it until someone at my table told me what was going on.

No one had.

Theodore glanced at my brother with what was supposed to be a casual but none too subtle look before he looked at me.

"Well, Cessy, there's something we've got to tell you…" He said slowly, as if I was a child that wasn't ready to hear what he said. I was really getting sick of him acting like I was some delicate flower that was going to crush under the slightest of pressure.

Theodore should know me better than that.

I waited for him to finish his thought but he didn't which annoyed me further. The look on his face made it seem like the words he would say to me would surely be his last. I looked at my brother across from us; he was never known to hold back bad news from me up until recently. He held an angry look on his normally handsome face and it reminded me of our father. It made me irritated; I couldn't stand when he looked like him.

"Montague's been released from the Hospital Wing, Cessy." He spoke softly but without hesitation as Theodore had.

I felt my jaw clench and my hands ball into fists, dropping the fork I had previously brought up to my mouth.

It made an awful clanking sound when it fell.

"So…" I started eyeing the Great Hall and the rest of my classmates. "Where is he then?"

I hadn't seen him nor any of his vile friends yet. The fact that people were looking at me indicated that most likely a rumor had been started of why he was put in the Hospital Wing in the first place and why it had to do with me. Who knew what kind of gossip people were thriving for between Cecily Malfoy and Graham Montague. I hoped there was at least a lick of truth in the rumors…like the fact that he is a peeping tom.

"Don't know, probably hiding from me," Draco said with a shrug of his shoulders but the tense look on his face told me he wanted to hunt Montague down and give him the beating of his life.

But this was between Montague and myself; I wasn't about to let my brother have all the fun. I thought about what Professor Snape had just told me about confronting the person who was threatening you but not positively. The news about Montague's release may have just given me my chance to try out my method of negative confrontation that I had so cleverly thought of when I left Snape's classroom.

I tried to hide the smirk that wanted to make its way to my face as I thought of my plan and politely excused myself from dinner. Draco gave me a curious look but didn't bother telling me to stay. Theodore was a little harder to persuade to let me go.

"Wait, Cecily, where are you going?" He asked, his voice hinting at him already knowing where I was headed.

"I'm a bit tired-," I lied. "And Montague's release has made me angry so I'm going to bed."

He gave me a skeptical look and his deep blue eyes didn't look like they believed me until my brother spoke up.

"Let her go, Nott." My brother's voice was annoyed and the look he was giving Theodore almost made me feel bad for leaving him. Draco wasn't a fool and he could tell Theodore's care for me ran deeper than just friendship alone; plus, Theodore's eyes lit up every time I was around so it wasn't like he was being subtle about it.

Poor love struck fool.

So without another word, but a sympathetic look to Theodore, I exited the hall and feigned turning toward the dungeons when really I began my hunt for Montague.

I searched nearly the entire castle without a hint of him around. There were a few students lurking about the hallways playing with their friends or snogging their partners in the corners of the corridors. I politely kept myself away from those students. It had been nearly forty minutes of searching and there was still no sigh of Montague so I decided to call it a night; besides, I had homework that needed tending to. I was leaving the seventh floor, heading toward the moving staircase when I heard the commotion. Loud voices shouting down the hall with violent ugly words being tossed back and forth.

I just knew it had to be Montague.

I quickly backtracked and followed the voices. I turned the left corner slowly keeping myself hidden from the two figures in front of me. What I saw only half shocked me.

I was not surprised that Montague was already trying to grope a different female student as soon as he was released after peeping on me and facing the consequences. What I certainly _was_ surprised to see was who his victim was.

I spotted Granger, of all people, with her wand pointed at the vile boy as he tried to pry at her robes while she struggled and shouted for him to let go.

Montague was disgusting and crude and he prayed on basically anyone that categorized themselves as female however, even he admitted he would never go for someone with "dirty blood" as the so called better half of the wizarding world liked to call muggle born wizards and witches. The fact that he was currently trying to molest Granger said otherwise.

All of this took me about half a second to register before I stepped out of view, fuming from the boiling heat that bubbled in my chest at the sight of this disgusting boy try to violate yet _another_ girl in this school. I could barely believe it-was he really so foolish as to think he'd get away with peeping on _me_ and then just move on like he wouldn't suffer?

Didn't matter if Montague had set his eyes on someone new-he wasn't going to be tormenting anyone any longer.

" _Hey_!" The word ripped through the air like a sharp sting and both Montague and Granger turned toward me and their eyes widened at my fast approach.

It looked as though Graham was about to say something but, unfortunately for him, he didn't get the chance.

I punched him square in his face.

It sounded as though someone had dropped a book onto the stone ground when my fist collided with his nose and after that it sounded much like a twig breaking in the woods. I didn't feel the pain in my hand from the collision quite yet and I took it as a small blessing. Being able to break his nose and not feel the pain afterward were surely on the top ten best things to happen to me. He groaned from the impact and fell to the ground with a loud thud and I smiled at the sight of him on the ground, whimpering and holding his nose. Granger squealed from shock but I ignored her. Montague's face had gone red and his nose was bleeding. He groaned again and tried to get up.

He tried in vain.

I kicked him in his stomach so hard I was positive I heard him lose his breath. He began to cough violently and I kicked again and again-wanting him to feel the shock and humliation that he put not only me through, but any girl he'd ever tried to take advantage of. He moaned from the pain and held out his hand for me to stop, his voice pleading.

"What's this, Montague? Already had enough?" I mocked, my voice pleasantly sweet.

He nodded his head and moaned again. He clutched at his stomach and his bleeding nose with his other hand. The crimson color on his pale skin made me a bit queasy but the painful look on his expression made up for it.

"You bitch!" He said, though his voice was muffled through his hand.

"You're right, how cruel of me. Well, I guess we're square now, aren't we? Call it a truce?" I asked and offered my hand to help him up.

He rightfully looked skeptically at my peace offering but he grabbed my hand nonetheless. I helped the vile boy up to his feet as best he could-he was still bending slightly from the kicks in his abdomen.

"Thanks-ah!"

I punched him again in the same spot, my fist colliding with soft flesh and slippery blood. It was a less precise punch than last time, considering he was doubled over and it wasn't a clear shot. However, that didn't mean it was any less painful for Montague.

"You-you fucking _hags_! You'll pay for this! _Both_ of you!" He cried out at me as he retreated. I saw more blood spilling from his nose and tears leaking from his eyes. I smirked at him as he ran off but didn't bother responding.

No one would be giving him any aid when they found out a girl bested him. But something he said startled me; I had nearly forgotten Granger was behind me.

I turned to the shaking girl behind me-she still had her wand tight in her hand and aimed toward where Montague had retreated. She was flushed and her eyes were wide with the adrenaline pumping through her. It wasn't until I approached her that she turned her wide gaze toward me. She lowered her wand, her eyes were still cautious, but she seemed a lot more comfortable with me next to her rather than with Montague.

Which was odd, considering I was a Malfoy.

"You alright?" I asked, looking at the sleeve of her robe where he had managed to tear the seams. Other than that she seemed relatively unharmed.

"Yes, thank you." She nodded her head toward me and her dark eyes rested on my right hand which only now started to throb.

The stinging pain in my knuckles was like the ringing bells of justice to my ears-it hurt but it was absolutely worth it. I took a quick glance at them and saw a couple of them had split open and my own blood was mixed with Montague's.

 _Ew! Disgusting!_

"Gross," I said aloud, mostly to myself but Granger heard my words.

"Here, let me-," She moved forward toward me with her wand pointed at my hand and before I could even voice my protest, let alone move my hand out of the way, she had already muttered a quick and quiet _Episky_ and with the slight burning sensation of the spell my hand began to heal before our eyes.

"Uh-," I hesitated speaking. "Um.." It was never easy getting a 'thank you' from me. Potter would know. My pride was too damn strong.

"You're welcome," She said, with a shy smile. I nodded my head at her, grateful I didn't have to say the words.

"Montague's disgusting, I would've done it for anyone so don't take it personally," I said with too much annoyance that I didn't mean to let slip in my tone.

I couldn't help it; it was just how I was wired. My defenses were linked with my anger.

"Where did you learn to punch like that?" She asked.

"My brother," I said, recalling she had once punched Draco himself and even he had admitted she'd had a wicked right hook. Not that he'd ever admit it to her, though.

"Well, it was excellent," She said. "Thank you, again."

"Like I said, don't take it personally, Mudblood," I snapped.

Granger didn't seem bothered by my harsh words; in fact, she seemed pleased which was even more had a small smirk on her face which annoyed me even more and I glared at her. She still wasn't fazed.

 _Salazar's spit, am I losing my touch?_

"You have a good night…" She said and started backing away from me. "Cecily."

I snapped my eyes to her face and felt my cheeks grow hot from the spark of anger that lit in me at her use of my name.

Not ever, _ever_ , in my short period of knowing Granger had she ever called me by my first name.

And I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it.

Actually I _was_ sure how I felt about it and I _wasn't_ pleased. At all.

" _Don't_ call me that, Granger." I snapped. "You have no right to that name."

She faltered a bit, her expression softening a bit at the offense in my tone but she simply nodded and went on her way.

 _You save one person from some git and suddenly they're your best friend. Merlin's beard. The nerve._

"Those Gyrffindor's are so strange," I said to myself.

I shook my head and soon headed back toward the dungeons where I'm sure my brother and Theodore were getting ready to shout at me for not doing as I said I would.

 _But what else is new?_

* * *

"What did you do, sweet sister?" My brother's voice sounded as I stepped through the portrait.

I rolled my eyes at his immediate question and was about to answer him when I heard a moaning coming from across the common room. The tables near the book shelf on the far right side held a very familiar figure, moaning and groaning about his broken nose.

"Oh, save it Montague, you're a quidditch player stop acting like such a _pansy_ over a broken nose!" I shouted.

He looked over at me with angry eyes and his group of friends that had been tending to him glared at me as well. Draco stood up immediately and stood in front of me, eyeing anyone that dared come close to his little sister in a threatening manner.

" _You_ did that?" He asked, nodding toward Montague.

I smirked and nodded, proud of my work and the admiration I heard in my big brother's voice.

"Job well done, Cessy," He said and smiled at me, patting my cheek lightly as I beamed before turning around to Montague who looked as though he wanted to send me to my grave. "She's right, Montague, I've seen you get worse on the pitch, and from boys too. A punch from a girl shouldn't be so bad."

"Fuck off, you prick!" He managed to shout at my brother and the two of us laughed at his obviously hurt pride that was evident in his tone.

He stood up from his chair, still hunched over from where I had kicked him multiple times, but instead of coming at me with a fist like I had earlier, he had his wand pointed at my face.

Before anyone could move, me, my brother, Theodore from across the room, or any bystander, I heard the lowest of growls come from my right as my wonderful half kneazle sprinted toward Montague with opened claws and vicious hisses.

She latched onto him before any spells could leave his vile mouth.

"Get 'im Jojo!" I laughed as Montague tried, hopelessly, to pry my furious cat off of him.

She wasn't having it.

Instead she clawed so viciously at his face that Theodore ended up telling me to call her off. I let her maim him a bit longer before calling her. She immediately snapped her head toward me and unlatched herself from where she'd previously dug her claws into Montague's chest and face. He was on the ground again, making noises I could only imagine someone on the verge of death would be making. It made me incredibly proud of her. He had terrible claw marks on his face, leaving bloody vertical lines on each sides of his cheeks and nose. I could see the holes from where her claws were in his chest and I could imagine she'd left some bite marks as well.

She hadn't gone easy.

 _Well that's what he gets for pointing his wand at me!_

"Good girl, " I said and scooped my large, purring, cat into my arms. I stroked her fur as she nuzzled my face and looked at my brother.

He didn't look as happy as I was at Montague's mauling but he wasn't giving me his normally disapproving look he did when Jojo did something that could get us in trouble. It raised my spirits even more.

"Salazar's shit, Jojo, you really fucked the bloke up," Theodore came over to her and she purred and let him pet her.

Montague was being escorted out of the common room by his friends-they kept very far away from Jojo which she looked pleased at. I chuckled and looked around at my brother and the rest of my house mates.

"I _did_ tell you all he was going to pay, didn't I?"

No one responded but I did hear a harty laugh come from my twin.

 _At least someone thinks I'm funny..._

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_ _Hi again! Hope you all liked this chapter! And again, I'm sooooo sorry it's taken so long to post again. Couldn't get my writing juices flowing ya know?_

 _Anyways...were you surprised Montague ended up harrassing poor Hermione? How about Cecily coming to her rescue? Good stuff? Should we transfer Cecily over to the Gryffindor's already or what!_

 _And not to worry! I promise Cecily and Harry will be speaking next chapter! They definitely have some things they need to chat over..._

 _Thanks again! Hope you enjoyed!_

 _~Alyssa~_


	8. Chapter 7: Apologies

_**Hi everyone! Surprised there's another update so soon? Me too, to be honest! Couldn't stop writing today though, so here we are! Hope you like it!**_

* * *

 **CHAPTER SEVEN: APOLOGIES**

* * *

Weeks had gone by.

I had let _weeks_ go by before I'd finally gotten the courage to speak to Potter. I tried to tell myself that it was because I was distracted with Montague's filthy actions-or better yet the sweet revenge I'd inflicted on him; or the fact that Draco and I still hadn't figured out what our vision meant or how we even managed to have one. But in reality the bitterness and anger I felt toward myself was a direct result of my inability to admit-both to Potter and myself-that I owed him a thank you, and also an apology.

Two very difficult things to admit. And so here I was, weeks later, lamely making my way to the Boy Wonder to express my gratitude.

 _I've gone soft…_

It was bitterly cold on this November evening, flurries of snow had even started to fall, but I couldn't quite feel it. My adrenaline was heating up my body just fine. My nerves about seeing _Potter_ , of all people, were getting the best of me. I couldn't believe it.

I was a bloody fool.

And apparently I was a soft fool now too because yet again I found myself doing something stupid because my mouth just couldn't stay shut.

 _Ugh_.

Before I had even knocked on the door to the entrance I heard his voice; full of disdain.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

I hadn't exactly been expecting his voice to seem so harsh and accusing toward me when he realized I was there but I should've prepared for it anyway. Surprisingly, I almost felt a little annoyed at it; especially since he'd made no effort to be particularly nasty to me since the whole Umbridge incident. In fact, he'd be annoyingly _civil_ towards me, save for the few harsh rashes we would throw at each other when my brother was around to start a fight.

And even then I could tell he wasn't putting in much effort.

Despite those little encounters he'd been perfectly tolerable. Of course, he hadn't exactly made an overly eager effort to speak to me-that was mainly due to my avoiding him-but still.

"Come to have a chat, actually."

Potter raised a curious eyebrow at me as he stroked a white spotted owl which I presumed was his. There was always a rumor going around of Potter's legendary owl and she seemed to fit the criteria that made her the very one. She was a pretty thing, with bright yellow eyes and clean sleek feathers; I could see from here that she was very proud of her owner and held him in high regard.

I looked around the Owlery and shivered a bit from the cold. It was a cold Sunday afternoon and Potter's red ears and cheeks indicated he'd been here quite some time; he looked nearly frozen with just a thin blue jumper on. I had on my jacket and even _that_ wasn't keeping me as warm as I'd hoped-I could imagine how cold he actually was. Vaguely, I wondered how long he'd been up here.

"You're joking," He said finally, his voice full of sarcasm.

I rolled my eyes-perfectly prepared for this type of response-and stepped further into the Owlery.

 _This_ was the Potter I was used to dealing with-sarcastic, rude, annoying-and just because I'd come up here to thank him didn't mean I wasn't going to be rude back to him. I hadn't seen Potty with his friends in the Great Hall at dinner and I hadn't seen him anywhere else in the castle and my encounter with him a few weeks ago when he'd been running to the Owlery for a sort of safe haven had given me a good enough inkling to knowing where he was now. It's not like I had been looking for him all day, it's just that there was something I had wanted to discuss with him since our last detention with the toad and I wasn't planning on letting it burden my thoughts any further. I had been far too stressed about Harry Golden Boy Potter for my liking.

It _needed_ to end.

I had let a lot of time pass between this long overdue conversation but I finally figured it was time I had said my thanks to him. I wasn't exactly happy about it-I was much too proud to admit that I had needed help when he'd given it to me-but there was a part of me that was itching at my guilt when it came to him. And finally after all this time I figured it was time for me to act like an adult and suck it up. I sighed, annoyed.

"Do I look like I'm joking, Potter?"

"Surprisingly, no."

His green eyes were narrowed at me but his body was relaxed enough to reassure me that he wasn't going to reach for his wand any time soon. A wand fight was the last thing I was looking for; not that I wouldn't participate and annihilate him, but still it would be inconvenient. Actually, now that I thought about it I'd _much_ rather a fight than what I was about to do-it would certainly be easier to accomplish.

"Yes, because unlike some of my fellow classmates I tend to tell the truth," I shot back at him.

He rolled his eyes. His owl seemed to glare at me too.

"Well, I'm listening," He said, prompting me to start getting to the point.

I sighed in slight annoyance again, wondering if this was even a good idea at all. I had known why I wanted to seek him out and I knew why it was important to me but there was a larger more prominent part of me screaming on the inside that this was a horrid idea and that talking to Potty Golden Boy would probably just end up with me getting myself into more trouble than necessary. It was foolish to bring such things up to him and especially with my brother on my tail about not telling people my opinions of our current state in the wizarding world; especially telling _Potter_ of all people. But I couldn't help it; my mouth couldn't keep itself shut this time; not when Potter had done what he'd done for me.

"I believe you, you know," I said, my voice coming out harsher than intended; most likely due to being on edge about telling him this in the first place.

"About what?" His eyebrows had raised, telling me he had a hunch about what I was going to say.

"About the Dark Lord," I said and saw his jaw clench slightly at my words.

He didn't say anything for a bit, analyzing whether or not he thought I was telling the truth. But in reality I had no reason to lie. If I didn't believe him I'm sure my big mouth would've made _that_ clear too but I did believe him. I could understand his hesitancy to believe me, however, which was clear in his body language.

I tried to ignore how his fists clenched and unclenched at his sides and how his jaw had a little tick as he thought over my words. His eyes-that infuriatingly bright green color that were so solid at the moment that they almost looked crystalline-didn't look away from my face when he spoke and in them I saw that he had what looked like the slight wisp of trust.

"Why?"

I had a feeling this would be the question he asked when I told him that I believed him but I couldn't tell him the truth. I couldn't tell him about all the dark things I'd seen this summer at my own home. I couldn't confirm that which he already knew about my father. I may be against what my father was and why he did it but I wasn't going to dishonor him by outing him. Especially not to Potter. There was no way there would be a happy ending for me if I even thought about telling him what my father was.

My family was too important to me. I couldn't lose them.

"I just do," I said, hoping my face wasn't giving anything away of my thoughts.

It's not like I liked Potter, or trusted him or even tolerated him but he had done something for me that most likely no one else in the entire school would've bothered to think of doing. As a Slytherin, as Malfoy, I felt it was my responsibility to repay him with how deeply my honor ran. I'd felt nothing but guilt and frustration toward Potter for a very long time; it was even harder seeing him in the halls and finding that I would rather run away from him than start our usual banter. I felt like a coward. What type of nemesis was I if I wanted to run away from him? There was no point in it. I knew this was the only way my guilty conscience would flee.

And I'd felt so, _so_ guilty for not thanking him. It would be nice to be free of those thoughts again.

He looked at me with a wary expression but after a very long silence between us with nothing but the sound of the wind outside and the owls cooing, he finally nodded his head at me with what looked like the beginning of a smile spreading across his face.

"I'm glad you do," He said. "Thank you."

"No, Potter-," I shook my head at him and bit my lip, struggling with my next words. Everything I'd been keeping inside was eating away at me and I wanted nothing more than to just turn around and forget I'd even come up here to talk to him. His owl was eyeing me like she expected me to bolt out the door. I certainly wanted to.

But my feet were planted firmly on the ground-I wasn't going anywhere until I said what I needed to say.

"Thank _you_ , Potter. For helping me. With Umbridge."

I didn't particularly mean for my voice to come out so icily but it did; the words were meant to be grateful not bitter but I couldn't help it.

This was all too knew for me.

I didn't like Potter, he was an annoyance and self-righteous and even more annoyingly noble, so it was very hard for me to give him my gratitude.

But-as I had been struggling to come to the conclusion to over the past few weeks-he deserved it.

"You're welcome," He said simply.

I hadn't been looking at him when he spoke but my eyes flew to him when he did. I narrowed my expression at him in suspicion. He had the nerve to chuckle.

"How is this _at all_ funny to you, Potter?" I sneered.

"I guess because it's so hard for you to say a simple thanks." He shrugged and looked at his owl with a hint of a smile on his face.

I growled at him and crossed my arms over my chest. Did he really find humor in my torture? He should be grateful I even felt the need to thank him. What an arrogant git.

"Listen, I don't need you making fun of me for giving you my thanks-,"

"I'm not making fun of you, Malfoy. I appreciate the thanks-honestly I didn't think I'd get one at all so this is quite the surprise."

"What? Are you saying I'm selfish or something? Thinking I wouldn't give you a thank you for helping me?"

"Well, I think you're proud, so admitting it must be a little difficult for you."

"Shove off, Potter." I glared.

He returned the look but with much less malice.

I looked at him with a slightly put off expression.

Were we supposed to be bickering when I was supposed to be thanking him? Most likely not but this was atypical of us.

At least we were consistent.

"Well..." I sighed again. "On the topic of things that are difficult for me to say due to my pride…"

He waited for me to continue and I nearly stomped my foot in frustration. I wanted to run away at this very moment. I didn't want to say this at all but I knew I wouldn't be able to get over the guilt that was nagging at me if I didn't.

I was too damn noble for my own good.

 _Oh god…I'm turning into Potter! Disgusting! Might as well transfer me over to the bloody Gryffindor's now before my Slytherin comrades have a chance to tear me apart!_

"I wanted to-," I swallowed the lump that had grown in my throat. It was making it terribly difficult for me to breathe.

"You wanted to…what?" Potter had a full smile on his face now-quite a nice smile if I was being honest which was yet another thing I would never admit to anyone but my own subconscious-and I couldn't help but snarl at him.

He might not have been making fun of me but he was certainly enjoying the pain I was in while torturing myself.

"I wanted to apologize," I muttered and looked away from him. Instead I let my eyes wander around the Owlery-maybe I'd catch a glimpse of Heracles.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that, Malfoy." He was still grinning and I was still glaring.

He certainly _did_ hear what I'd said-he just wanted to drag my torture on further. He was such a prat. So instead of giving him any more satisfaction of watching me squirm I looked at him with a look of faux confidence.

"I'm sorry, Potter." I said, trying not to let the words stick in my throat. My plan of a nonchalant façade would go terribly if I couldn't even get the words out. "After that disaster with Umbridge I should've come to you sooner. I'm sorry I didn't. You helped me and I acted rudely, so…I apologize."

His expression of amusement softened a bit. He seemed genuinely content with my apology and I felt a biggest weight lift off my chest-finally I'd be able to go a day without thinking of Potter!

"Apology accepted, Malfoy," He said, his voice very quiet.

He was giving me a very puzzled expression; his eyebrows were furrowed and his face was pinched as he looked at me.

"Right well-," I cleared my throat and flicked my hair behind my shoulder. "I'll be going now."

I started to back out of the Owlery but he didn't give me the chance.

"Wait-Malfoy!" He called just as I reached the door and I sighed in aggravation.

"If you're expecting me to fall at your feet and grovel you just like everyone else in this bloody school, Potter, you're sorely mistaken," I said and turned back toward him.

His expression was amused at my banter but he shook his head.

"No one seems to be groveling this year but I don't really have a problem with that-," He chuckled. I glared at him some more. "Actually, I just have a question."

"No surprise there-you've got that goofy look on your face as if you're trying to actually think."

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"Is it possible for you to stop talking for even a minute?" He asked.

"'fraid not, Potter. It's both a blessing and a curse," I said and shrugged my shoulder at him. "So what's that question you've got rolling around that tiny brain of yours?"

"Insult aside-I wanted to ask you why you're acting like this?" He asked me as if he knew what he was talking about.

His eyes were blazing as he looked at me and I felt a twinge of surprise hit my expression.

"What are you on about?" I hadn't the slightest idea what he was talking about, in fact.

As far as I was concerned I hadn't really acted any differently from the other years-aside from my lack of offensive insults towards him.

"Well, to repeat myself from earlier in the year…" He chuckled slightly. "You're not acting very Malfoyish."

I rolled my eyes at him, recalling him saying this to me earlier in the year when we'd almost had to snog. The memory nearly made me gag.

"Do you realize how idiotic that sounds? What does that even mean?" I snapped at him, arms crossed over my chest.

By this point he had let his owl sit on one of the posts and she was eyeing me curiously-no malice in her expression anymore. Hers had faded as soon as Potter's had when I'd apologized.

 _Interesting…_

"It means you're acting more…" He paused, scratching the back of his already messy head of hair, making it even wilder if that was possible. "Nice."

"'More nice'?" I mimicked. "Is that the best you can come up with, Potty?"

He rolled his eyes at me, equal amounts of amusement and annoyance on his face.

"Be serious for a moment, would you?"

"I'm always serious," I said, lifting my chin in a defiant manner.

"Hardly."

"Always."

"Doubtful," He stepped closer to me as he spoke and I instantly stepped back.

There was only so much closeness to Potter that I could take. He noticed my step and I saw something light up in his eyes-something I was sure I wasn't going to like.

"Tell me, Malfoy, what is it about you this year?" He stepped closer again, his voice taking on a tone I'd never once heard from him and could most definitely live without hearing again. It almost sound...husky? Velvety? Who knew what he was up to.

I was against the wall already and I clenched my jaw. He was literally cornering me now and I wasn't happy in the slightest about it. I would _not_ be intimidated by Potter, of all people.

"There's nothing different about me Potter, you've just been so lost in your own fame that you couldn't tell," I bit out, glaring at him.

"You think I haven't noticed that you're different?"

"I'm not-,"

"No, I'm not saying just different this year…I'm talking about in all the time I've known you."

At this, I looked up at him with an expression of mixed curiosity and pure outrage.

 _The bloody hell does he mean!? Who does he think he is?!_

I couldn't help but tell just how close he had gotten during our bickering match. It was far too close, way too close for my liking, we were practically chest to chest. His stunning eyes, yes they were certainly stunning, were boring into mine ruthlessly. Like he was trying to read my every thought.

He needed to stop.

This was _Potty_ , afterall. My enemy.

"Stop," I said.

"Stop what?" He asked. "You _are_ different, you know. You're not cruel like your father, you're not arrogant like your brother. I've never met your mother but I'll bet you're not much like her either…" His voice was low; like he knew he was walking on very thin ice. His expression was eager as he read mine. I could only imagine my fury and panic that was written on my face. I composed myself quickly and blinked a few times to get my mind together. He needed to stop for both our sakes because if he said another damn word, I was going to hex him.

"You don't know _anything_ about me, Potter," I said, keeping my voice as low as his.

He shook his head but said nothing else. Instead he took one step back and suddenly I felt like I could breathe again. I hadn't realized I was holding a breath until I let it out and felt relief in my chest. I unclenched my fists which I hadn't even realized were closed so tightly. He was watching me unravel my tension and I shook my head at him.

He was wrong-I _was_ like my family. I was exactly like them; I was a Malfoy. I was cold and cruel and arrogant and sly and wealthy and beautiful and smart and everything that came with the Malfoy name.

I was like them. I _had_ to be.

"Say anything like that again, and it'll be the last time you speak."

He looked at me with his stupid green eyes that seemed to shake me to the core as they looked at me now and he bit his bottom lip, running his fingers through his hair again, messing it up once again.

"What are you and Hermione up to?"

This question caught me off guard almost as much as his accusations of me not being like my family did. My pulse raced but I wasn't a fool.

"Don't know what you're talking about," I said, flicked my hair over my shoulder in a show of nonchalance.

He laughed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Sure you don't, just like she conveniently doesn't know why you two always end up sitting next to each other in the quiet part of the library on Saturday nights…"

My eyes-which had fallen to the floor at the mention of Granger-then snapped toward him in shock. I felt my mouth move before my brain could tell myself to shut up.

"How do you know about that?"

 _Oh no! No, Cessy, you idiot!_

I gasped aloud from my own stupidity and clamped my hand over my mouth. My confirmation made Potter's eyes light up with an eagerness to know the truth and I felt my cheeks flushing from anger and humiliation.

 _How can I be so stupid?!_

"So it's true then, you admit you two have been meeting up? Why?"

"No," I said, instantly denying.

What transpired between Granger and myself was none of Potter's business and if he was under the impression that was going to get any information out of me he was sorely mistaken. He'd chosen the wrong person to interrogate out of the two of us. I may have let slip that Granger and I were meeting up but that was as much as he was getting.

"You just said-,"

"No. I didn't. You have no idea what you're talking about. Leave it alone, Potty or I'll start throwing punches at you instead of just Montague." I threatened him and for a moment he looked distracted from the current topic at hand.

"I meant to ask about that…" He said, his tone darkening. Apparenlty Montague brought the worst out in everyone. "What did he do that made you beat him up like that?"

I scoffed and threw my head back in a laugh, my hand clutching at my stomach from laughing. He smiled slightly at my outburst but I quickly composed myself.

"Oh..." I paused. "You actually think I'm going to tell you?"

He looked disappointed at my response but he didn't push it nonetheless. I could only imagine the rumor's he'd heard from the school gossips. However, he wasn't the most popular student at the school at the moment so maybe he hadn't heard much? He probably thought I just attacked Montague without cause-as we Malfoy's usually do.

"He deserved it, I'm sure. No matter what he did he's a right prick and deserves anything that comes to him."

I looked at him again and saw the honesty in his expression. He seemed genuinely happy that I'd beat Montague up. Had he heard that Jojo also got a piece of him? Probably not..

"That he did," I said, nodding my head. "But, as lovely as this chat's been Potter I must be going…" I said and started to head for the door.

During this conversation, with the initial shock of apologizing and thanking Potter, and letting slip that I'd been meeting up with his curly haired friend…I hadn't forgotten this was still _Potter_ I was talking to. We weren't friends and the sooner this conversation ended the better off I'd be.

"Ah yes, wouldn't want to be late for a meeting with my friend Hermione, would you?"

"Again, no idea what you're on about." I shrugged, feigning my cluelessness.

I was, in fact, going to see Granger but it's not like he needed to know the truth. He knew too much already.

"See you 'round, Malfoy," He said and waved as I almost reached the door.

I paused at his parting words. I shook my head.

"This-," I said pointing between the two of us. "We are not _friends_ now just because I've apologized. You're still my nemesis and I will continue to make your life as miserable as can be." I ended my sentence with a dazzling smile and a flick of my hair over my shoulder.

I pretended not to notice him stare as I did so.

He smiled back which was not the response I was looking for.

"Sure you will."

I furrowed my brows together but instead of responding to him I stormed out of the Owlery, now fully frozen and ready to get back into the warm castle.

 _Stupid, Potter. Why must you be so confusing?_

* * *

"Potter's onto us."

I slammed my book bag onto the table, making my library companion squeal from the abrupt noise. Apparently she hadn't heard me come in.

"Well, hello to you too," She said, pushing a few stray curls out of her eyes.

Granger looked flushed and a bit peeved that I was late but what I was about to tell her would surely keep her off my back for a lack of punctuality.

"Potter knows we're meeting up behind their backs," I said, taking my seat across from her and snagging a biscuit that she had set on a napkin next to her and the text books.

She raised an eyebrow at me taking her cookie but didn't say anything otherwise.

"Of course he does…" She muttered to herself and shook her head.

"Oh? You mean this _doesn't_ come as a surprise to you?" I tilted my head to one side as I asked the question and my tone made her look slightly guilty.

Good.

"Well, he's not dumb-," She said.

"Could've fooled me."

She gave me a look-one that I'd been receiving quite often ever since we had made our little arrangement-and it said 'can you just be nice?'.

"He has uh-," She eyed me before continuing her sentence. Apparently she trusted me about as much as I trusted her and decided keeping things vague was best. "… -something that could easily tell him where I've been sneaking off to on nights that usually I spend with him and Ron. It's natural that they'd be curious as to where I was."

"Yes… _so_ natural that he'd take to stalking you…does Potter have possession issues?" I asked, again that mocking tone evident in my voice.

She gave me the look once more and I rolled my eyes.

"There's no chance you'll tell me what this special something is, will you? So I can take it from him to keep him off our backs? Because otherwise we'll have to stop our meetings and I know how much you don't want that…" I said and kicked my feet up on the table, leaning back in my chair.

I was being mean, as usual, and Granger knew it too but at the mention of me stopping our meetings her eyes lit up in panic.

"No! We can't stop! I'm nearly good now!"

A few weeks prior to this very moment Granger had approached me-much to my complete surprise, slight irritation and also amusement. After the whole debacle with Montague trying to grope at her she had apparently felt so useless against him with even just her wand that she'd gotten the courage to seek me out for fighting lessons. She had told me she didn't want to ever feel as vulnerable as she had with him ever again.

And with me being me, I had asked her where her knights in shining armor were-certainly Potter and Weasley would be against Granger coming to a Slytherin for fighting lessons, and a Malfoy on top of that. She had told me that she hadn't spoken on the incident with Montague to them I fear of what they might try to do to him and risk expulsion. I had laughed and told her I had the same concern about my brother most of the time when it came to boys wanting to pursue me.

"Well, will you do it?" She'd asked me. "Will you teach me how to fight?"

And of course, being a Malfoy, I had agreed but with a price. Draco wouldn't have settled for less. Although if he ever found out I was helping Granger of all people he'd have my head-like for most of the things I did. Granger may be annoying and a Mudblood and a know-it-all, but she was book smart and there were things I needed to find out.

Things about crescent moon birthmarks and the meaning behind them.

Thus, our bargain was struck. She knew the bare minimum of information-just that I was curious about the marks and wanted to know more; there was no way I was going to tell her I actually had a moon birthmark-and she got fighting lessons in return as we dug through the library for information. She'd been sort of a help if I was being completely honest with myself, although I'd never admit it to her. Her ego was almost as big as mine there was no need to inflate it further. She'd started with the most basic of information which were the phases of the moon.

My birthmark was a Waning Crescent so she'd started with the meaning behind that which had been spot on, considering I'd had a bloody vision with my brother and it seemed to ramble on about divination.

It had said, " _This is a time for spells that banish, release, reverse. This is a time to break bad habits or bad addictions, to end bad relationships. This is a time of deep intuition and a time for divination._ "

She had also brought my attention to the meaning of birthmarks in general and it had seemed just a bunch of gibberish until she'd mentioned something omens.

"What did you just say?" I had asked.

"I said that birthmarks are often affiliated with the person's future. It can either be an omen of good fortune or bad. Certain shapes and sizes can affect whether the person's future is positive or negative…"

I had kept my face calm and collected but on the inside, I'd been screaming.

Draco would've had a field day with me reading into this superstitious stuff about our shared mark but too many odd things kept happening where it was concerned. I couldn't risk not knowing-especially if it was going to affect Draco and I negatively.

So now here we were, Granger and I, weeks later with about as much information now as we started with. Though she seemed to be having a great time assigning me passages to read when we weren't meeting up.

"Well, we might have to stop Granger, if Potter doesn't back off!" I said now, looking at her with a furious expression.

"Harry's just protective…" She was flushed and at a loss for words. "If he thought I was in any real danger he'd have come looking for us by now."

"He might still," I said, "When I spoke with him earlier he seemed _extremely_ interested."

"You talked with Harry earlier? About what?" Her interest peaked immediately at my words and I rolled my eyes at her.

"None of your business, Granger."

"If Harry's involved it is," She spoke defiantly.

"Oh? Are you two an item now? Thought you had the hots for the Weasel?" I mocked her and laughed when her cheeks reddened at the mention of her red headed friend.

"It's not like that-Harry's my best friend; I'm looking out for him."

"Potter and I had some unfinished business. It's over with now," I said and sighed at her annoyed face.

She was certainly persistent. Almost reminded me of Theodore. More than once she had reminded me of him and I imagined what sitting between the two would be like if they found a topic that were interested in.

Infuriating to say the least.

"Does it have anything to do with what happened with Umbridge?" She spoke quietly, as if she knew this subject was one I would not want to discuss.

I felt my body tense when she spoke and my hand ached from the memory. It was as if I could still feel the burning of the writing on my hand. The scar was ragged and faded in my flesh but it still burned on occasion. It made me sick still, if I was being honest.

And it also made me mad.

"Oh, so Potter just _couldn't_ keep his damn mouth shut, could he?" I put my feet on the ground and stood from my chair. "What else did he tell you?" I demanded slamming my hands on the table, shots of anger running through me at the thought of Potter gossiping about me to his stupid friends. He no doubt told them I was weak and silly and full of myself. He probably told them I crumbled under Umbridge's quill's and stupid tea leaves laced with veritaserum.

 _Of course._ I thought. _Of course he would say things like that._

She jumped and squealed again from the outburst.

"Nothing bad!" She said quickly, her expression shocked but pleading with me. "He said that Umbridge used cursed quills on you two and that he helped you a bit when-,"

"When _what_? When he had to come to my rescue because I couldn't _lie_?"

"When you were under veritaserum," She said calmly, her expression somber and a bit sad.

She was always giving me that look like she wanted to help me and say something that would maybe make me feel better but like she didn't know how to comfort me or what words to say.

And she was right-no matter what she said to me or how she looked at me it wouldn't help. No one could help me but my brother. Gryffindor's, of all people, could not help me.

 _Of course, that doesn't stop them from bloody trying._

I thought angrily. Stupid, proud, Gryffindor's. Why must they always try to help those they don't ask for it? Slytherin's help one another and stick to helping only each other. As long as we stuck by one another we didn't need anyone else.

And that's how I liked it.

"You bloody Lions…" I muttered. "Are too much to deal with."

She didn't say anything but gave me a small smile and pushed her napkin of cookies toward me.

I took one and sat down.

"Let's get back to research, shall we?" She offered. "And then maybe we can get some lessons in?" She sounded hopeful.

I grunted in response and she simply beamed.

 _Bloody Gryffindor's…_

* * *

"Cessy?"

I didn't want to open my eyes. I didn't want to move. My day had been too exhausting-dealing with Gyffindor's did that to you-and all I wanted was some peace and quiet.

I had just gotten back from my meeting with Granger and had gone straight to my dorm. Jojo had just snuggled perfectly under my arm in my bed and was purring softly enough to lull me to a light sleep even-but of course someone had to disturb the peace.

But with that person being my brother I couldn't be too upset. I had barely seen him today so he was probably wondering where I was.

"Hmm?" I peeked an eye open and saw his grey ones looking back at me with slight amusement and slight worry.

I sat up slightly, jostling poor Jojo who wasn't happy about it at all, and raised an eyebrow at him. He had something in his hand, a letter, it looked like.

"What is it?" I asked.

He sat on my bed and shook his head.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I tried to find you earlier but I couldn't seem to find you," He said, his voice low.

His face was full of dread and I had a sinking feeling in my chest at what he was about to tell me. I had an inkling-and I desperately hoped I was wrong.

"What bad news, brother?" I asked quietly.

Greengrass was on her bed next to mine trying not eavesdrop too obviously and failing miserably. Draco looked at her before he looked at me and lowered his voice even more.

"A letter came in today…" He handed it over to me and on it I saw the Malfoy stamp had been attatched to it.

A lump grew in my throat as a million thoughts ran through my head.

Was mother okay? Was father okay? Had something happened to them? Did the Dark Lord come back to our home? Did they need Draco back for something? Were they going to…induct him or something? Were they going to induct me?!

"What-,"

"Just read," He said.

 _Dear Children,_

It read.

 _Looking forward to seeing you both tomorrow. Make sure we're not disappointed with what we see._

 _Lucius Malfoy_

I laughed with no humor.

"He didn't even sign 'father'," I said with another dull laugh.

Draco nodded.

"So they're visiting tomorrow? For what? Did they say they were going to earlier at all?"

"No…but it doesn't make it any less unpleasant that he'll be here…" He muttered and I sighed.

I couldn't disagree with my brother on that. It would be wonderful to see my mother if it was just her coming to see us but with my father present she would act differently. Around my father she would act colder, not less motherly or less loving, but there'd be an air about her that never sat right with me when he was around to control her.

I hated that about him.

But he was my father, and there was nothing I could do to change that. I either respect him or face the consequences.

"Well, you should head to bed. You'll need all the rest you can get in order to deal with Father tomorrow," I said, and pat my brother on his back.

He sighed and got up from my bed, kissing my temple and bidding me a goodnight. The dark circles under his eyes didn't go unnoticed and I had blamed the Prefect runs with Tracey. He didn't seem to be able to get a goodnights sleep since he'd started that silly job. My worry for him only grew as the days past and I sighed as he exited my dorm.

Jojo curled up against me again when he left. She looked concernedly at me as I reread the letter.

"He's a prick, Jojo, isn't he?" I said and as a response she swatted at the letter angrily.

I let her shred it with her claws before going to bed.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:** Oh man...Lucius and Narcissa will be making an appearance in the next chapter! And then after that there will be some D.A. action! _

_So? What did you all think? Was Harry and Cessy's conversation everything you hoped? Did you hate it? Did you want more? Let me know what you think!_

 _Also, any thoughts on the odd comraderie between Hermione and Cessy? I like the idea of those two working together...but Cecily doesn't branch off from her Slytherin's often...or at all... so we'll see how that goes..._

 _Hope you enjoyed! Thanks!_

 _~Alyssa~_


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